UK Budget: Hotel Rates Freeze, £13.21 Wage, Levy Powers From 2028

By Nathan Snyder, Editor

England’s hotels left Chancellor John Healey’s Autumn Budget on Oct. 28 with a clearer rates path and a clearer tax risk: qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties get higher small-business rates relief from April 2027 and a two-year real-terms freeze on bills, while from 2028 Mayors and other Strategic Authorities gain power to introduce overnight visitor levies — as the National Living Wage rises 3.9% to £13.21 an hour.

Business Rates: Higher Relief, CPI Freeze

Per MHCLG business rates information letter 8/2026 (dated Budget day; multipliers updated Oct. 30, 2026) and HM Treasury’s Budget 2026 news release, qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) hereditaments in England see Small Business Rate Relief thresholds rise from £12,000 to £18,000 (100% relief) and from £15,000 to £21,000 (tapered relief), from 1 April 2027 until 31 March 2029.

HM Treasury says about 70,000 more RHL businesses are taken out of business rates, and that half of all RHL properties will pay no business rates. Eligible RHL (and pubs / live-music venue) bills are capped by CPI inflation in 2027/28 and 2028/29. That freeze does not apply to rateable-value increases from improvements, or to losses of other reliefs after 1 April 2026; vacant properties on 1 April of the year concerned do not qualify for that year’s freeze, per MHCLG.

Pubs, social clubs and all but the largest live music venues get an extra 20% relief on top of earlier 2026 support — 35% total relief in 2027/28 and 2028/29. Live music venues with rateable value of £1 million or more stay at 15%. For 2027/28, MHCLG’s updated multipliers include a standard multiplier of 49.7p, small-business 44.7p, standard RHL 44.5p and small-business RHL 39.5p (RHL multipliers set 5.2p below the corresponding small-business / standard multipliers). A 1p Transitional Relief Supplement is extended for a further two years.

Using GBP/USD 1.3399 (RateKite ECB-based cross, Oct. 30, 2026 fixing), £18,000 ≈ $24,118; £21,000 ≈ $28,138.

Overnight Visitor Levy Powers From 2028

In the Budget 2026 speech and HMT release, government confirms that from 2028, Mayors and other Strategic Authorities get new powers to introduce an Overnight Visitor’s Levy. Legislation will give all Strategic Authorities that power. Exact local rates, scope, accommodation types and start dates after the power exists remain for local implementation — not fixed in the Budget speech itself. A separate MHCLG/HMT consultation on the levy’s design closed earlier; the government response was published Sept. 10, 2026.

National Living Wage to £13.21

From 1 April 2027, the National Living Wage rises 3.9% to £13.21 per hour, per HM Treasury. HMT says that is about £910 more gross annual earnings for a full-time NLW worker (~$17.70/hr and ~$1,219 at the Oct. 30 sterling rate). The Budget speech says NMW and NLW both rise 3.9% for 2.3 million of the lowest-paid workers.

Business rates are devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; HMT says those governments receive Barnett consequentials and may fund equivalent measures.