Treasury opens valuation review after sharp rises for pubs and hotels

The full picture

This article discusses an independent examination of how pubs and hotels are valued for business rates in the UK. Jerry Schurder will lead this review, which began on August 24, 2026, with recommendations expected by March 2027. The review follows significant increases in rateable values experienced by these sectors during the 2026 revaluation period.

The Treasury has begun an independent examination of the business-rates valuation approach applied to pubs and hotels, appointing Jerry Schurder to direct the work.[1] Launched on 24 August 2026, the review gives the government a formal route for considering whether the future approach can be made fairer for high-street businesses.[1] The immediate backdrop is the 2026 revaluation, when both sectors experienced significant increases in rateable value.[1] The government says much of that movement followed the expiry of valuations dating from the pandemic period.[1] The available evidence does not quantify the increases or show how they varied among individual properties.[1] The exercise combines expert scrutiny with an open evidence-gathering process.[1] A Call for Evidence invites input from people operating properties, brewing businesses and hotels, as well as other business proprietors.[1] Their submissions will support the independent review as it considers the valuation framework.[1] Schurder is expected to deliver recommendations to the Treasury before March 2027 concludes.[1] Those recommendations are not yet known, and the evidence does not indicate which of them the Treasury might accept.[1] It also does not establish how the eventual outcome could alter any particular property's valuation or liability.[1] A separate measure already announced by the government sits on the calendar shortly after the review deadline.[1] From April 2027, bills are due to fall by 20% for pubs, social clubs and venues hosting live music.[1] The evidence presented here does not establish how that reduction and the review's eventual recommendations will interact for individual businesses.[1] For pubs and hotels, the review therefore represents a defined process rather than an immediate settlement.[1] Its confirmed stages are the collection of industry evidence, independent consideration led by Schurder and the delivery of recommendations in March 2027.[1] No final valuation changes arising from that process have yet been specified.[1] The next substantive milestone is Schurder's report to the Treasury, scheduled before the close of March 2027.[1] Until then, the Call for Evidence provides the stated channel through which affected industry participants can contribute to the review.[1] The source supplies no regional breakdown, so differences across the United Kingdom cannot be assessed from the available material.[1]

Why now?

The review follows the 2026 revaluation, when pubs and hotels recorded significant rateable-value increases that the government largely linked to the expiry of pandemic-period valuations.[1]