Restrictions on Rates Relief

Subsidy control (previously de minimis state aid)

Ratepayers should note that certain types of non-domestic rates relief is capped by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement de minimis threshold.

The Non-Domestic Rates (Restriction on Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 set, from 1 April 2021, a cap on the aggregate financial amount that can be awarded in the form of specified non-domestic rates reliefs. In calculating the cap regard must be had to relief or assistance that prior to EU Exit would have been considered de minimis State aid.

The specified reliefs now subject to these measures are;

• Renewable Energy relief
• Enterprise Areas relief
• Telephone Mast relief
• Rural relief
• District Heating relief
• Transitional relief and
• Day Nursery relief

These reliefs and any de minimis assistance, when added together, must not exceed 325,000 Special Drawing Rights

Special drawing rights

Special drawing rights (SDR) are an artificial currency instrument created by the International Monetary Fund, which uses them for internal accounting purposes.

The value of the SDR is calculated from a weighted basket of major currencies, including the U.S. dollar, the euro, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, and British pound

The 325,000 figure is the threshold set for de minimis relief by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement entered into on 30 December 2020 between the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and the United Kingdom.

More is available on the International Monetary Fund website.

Applying for relief

If you consider that you, or any other company you have a single undertaking relationship with in the UK, have already received  support from UK, Scottish and Local Government in excess of, or close to, this sum you must declare this if applying for any further support. Not all grants or relief awards are considered to be capped in this way therefore we will only ask for this information where appropriate.