The doubling of the small business rate relief in England will be extended until April 2017, the Chancellor George Osborne has announced.
Osborne revealed the extension in this afternoon's Autumn Statement and Spending Review.
About 405,000 of the smallest businesses will continue to receive 100% relief from business rates - doubled from the usual rate of 50% - with around a further 200,000 benefiting from tapering relief, notes to the move said.
Business owners can get the relief if they only use one property and their property's rateable value is less than £12,000. But under the extended doubling of this relief, they won't pay business rates on properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or less.
After April 2017, unless the scheme is extended again, the rate of relief will then gradually decrease from 100% to 0% for properties with a rateable value between £6,001 and £12,000.
The government is also undertaking a review of business rates. The review will report at Budget 2016.
Details in the Autumn Statement document said the UK's small and medium-sized enterprises now employ 15.6 million people, up from 13.7 million in 2010.
Over the last two years, the number of small businesses employing someone other than the owner has grown by 100,000.
As well as the measure announced today, business Start-Up Loans have already provided £180m of funding to 33,600 entrepreneurs, the Autumn Statement document said. The government will meet its commitment to 75,000 Start-Up Loans by the end of this
Parliament, it added.
From April 2016, the Employment Allowance will rise to £3,000, benefiting over 1 million employers, and helping many businesses take on their first employee.
Small businesses will continue to receive support for apprentices, the document said. The apprenticeship levy will only be paid by employers with a paybill of more than £3m, meaning that less than 2% of UK employers will pay it.
