More than 5,500 small business owners across the UK have signed an open letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, warning that planned business rates changes due to take effect in April 2026 could force thousands of firms to shut their doors.
The letter, organised by Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, has been backed by pub landlords, café owners, shopkeepers and local employers who say they are already operating at breaking point after a decade of compounding economic shocks.
Signatories argue that the upcoming revaluation and the withdrawal of existing relief schemes risk tipping otherwise viable businesses into closure, particularly on high streets and in community locations where fixed property costs cannot be avoided.
The intervention comes as the government prepares to overhaul how business rates are calculated, with the current Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme, which provided a 40 per cent discount in the 2025–26 financial year. set to end from April next year. That relief, introduced in various forms during and after the pandemic, has been a critical support for many businesses navigating the cost-of-living crisis.
Under the new system, updated rateable values will be introduced alongside revised multipliers, with the government arguing this will create a fairer, more sustainable framework. However, many businesses warn that the new reductions will not compensate for the loss of relief, leaving them facing sharply higher bills, particularly medium-sized operators and larger premises in high-cost areas such as the South East.
Business owners say the changes come at the worst possible time, as firms continue to grapple with rising rents, energy costs, insurance premiums, staffing pressures and lingering Covid-related debt, while consumer demand remains fragile.
In the open letter to the Chancellor, signatories describe business rates as an unavoidable fixed cost that disproportionately penalises physical premises.
“We are business owners, pubs, cafés, shops and local employers, who have kept going through a brutal decade,” the letter states. “We adapted, borrowed, cut our own wages and worked longer hours just to stay open. Now we’re facing a business rates revaluation that, for many of us, will be the final straw.”
The letter urges the government to carry out an urgent review of the impact of the revaluation on small businesses and to introduce meaningful mitigation measures to prevent widespread closures.
Rupert Lowe MP said the scale of the response demonstrated the severity of the situation facing the high street. “Business rates punish physical presence and community businesses,” he said. “Unless the Chancellor acts quickly, we will see permanent closures across the country. Once these businesses go, they will not come back.”
For many business owners, the issue is no longer about marginal profitability but basic survival. While ministers argue the reforms will rebalance the system, those on the ground fear they are being asked to absorb costs they simply cannot afford.
As April 2026 approaches, pressure is mounting on the Treasury to revisit the reforms. Whether the Chancellor chooses to act may determine the fate of thousands of local businesses — and the future shape of Britain’s high streets.
