Rate Relief for Small Post Offices

The Small Business Rate Relief is a Northern Ireland Government initiative that includes enhanced rate relief for small post offices. The aim of the scheme is to help maintain services in disadvantaged areas, particularly smaller, independent post offices.

The scheme came into effect on 1 April 2010 and it is intended that it will have a life of five years. It will be reviewed before then to establish its effectiveness and value for money.

How to qualify

Eligibility is based on the net annual value (NAV) of each post office.

There are two levels of Small Business Rate Relief for post offices:

• post offices with an NAV of £9,000 or less will be awarded 100% relief
• post offices with an NAV of more than £9,000 but not more than £12,000 will receive 50% relief

The Small Business Rate Relief will provide post offices with an average relief of between £1,620 and £2,580 per year.

Do I need to apply?

There is no application procedure for the Small Business Rate Relief. Instead, relief will be applied automatically by Land & Property Services to all post offices that qualify. This will ensure that all who are eligible will receive the benefit of the rate relief immediately.

For full details of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, please click on the link below:

• Rate Relief for Small Post Offices - Fact sheet - (PDF 139KB)

There may be occasions, due to data quality issues, when we may not have the relevant information to apply the relief automatically, or we may have awarded it when it is not due. If you think that you should have been awarded the relief, or you believe you have been awarded it in error, please contact Land & Property Services. Contact details are as follows:

• e-mail: applicationbased.raterelief@dfpni.gov.uk
• phone 0300 200 7801 (charged at local rate)
• textphone: 1800 1101