Online help for businesses to better manage their business rates
St Albans City and District Council has launched an online portal to help local businesses manage their business rates.
Businesses can use the portal on the Council’s website to carry out a range of tasks.
They can check the balance of their account, view their instalment plan, make a payment and check both demand and recovery notices.
Once they have registered, they will be able to access the portal 24/7 to keep on top of their business rate obligations.
The Council collects business rates on behalf of the Government but has no role in assessing the rateable values of properties or in setting the annual rates.
Rateable values are set by the Valuation Office Agency and are reassessed every three years. These values are used to calculate the business rate which is set by the Government.
The Council’s portal was launched following a reassessment of rateable values which comes into force for the financial year 2026/27.
Councillor Giles Fry, Vice-Chair of the Strategy and Resources Committee, said:
We want to support our local businesses in every way as they play a vital role in our community, providing jobs, goods and many different services.
We know there is often confusion about business rates and we believe this portal will help make the whole process much easier.
We're also writing to all our local businesses with more detailed information about next year’s rates including the new calculation method that the Government has put forward to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.
I urge all our businesses to look out for the letter, take any of the actions that we recommend and sign up for the portal. If they encounter any problems, our business rates team are there to help.
Businesses can register for the Council’s online business rates portal here.
They can find general information about business rates on this webpage and the Council’s business rates team can be contacted by email at BusinessRates@stalbans.gov.uk.
Contact for the media: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer: 01727-819533; john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.