Small Business Rate Relief

Within the Local government finance circular 1/2026: settlement for 2026 to 2027 issued by Scottish Ministers to local authorities, at Paragraph 29 it states;

29. Shootings and deer forests will be however excluded from eligibility for Small Business Bonus Scheme relief from 1 April 2026, except where a) shooting rights are exercised solely for the purposes of deer management, including to prevent damage to woodland or to agricultural production, environmental management or vermin control

As previously highlighted, there was no consultation with rural agencies by Ministers, which has led to widespread confusion and concern.  With our partners in RELM, we are still awaiting definitive answers to the queries we submitted to the Scottish Government.

In the meantime, we would offer this advice.  If you have a sporting lease for deer management, we suggest you reach out to the issuer of the lease as a matter of urgency.  The lease's wording needs to be examined closely.  Does the lease allow you to control only deer, or does it include past species?  If it does, it is not solely involving deer control.  It will likely include pest control.  The key words in paragraph 29 are ‘solely’ and ‘or’.  ‘Or’ is different from ‘and’.  It needs to be one or the other – it can’t be both.

It will likely be the forestry company or the lease issuer that is in the same state of flux as everyone else.

Here is just one example of the mess this needless change has introduced.  A forest owner in the highlands of Scotland manages deer in the forestry area to prevent tree damage.  Is that not what the Natural Environment Bill intends to achieve?  They issue a lease, via their forestry management company, solely to control the deer.  However, when it snows, mountain hares can cross the fence and damage the trees.  Nature Scot can issue a licence due to the damage hares are causing to the trees.  The land then moves, according to the SG circular, from solely for deer management to deer management AND vermin control, thereby incurring the loss of the small business rate relief.  Or so it seems: the circular is so ambiguous that no one actually knows what it means, and that will likely include the assessors, who may be under political pressure to move a certain way.  But then Scottish Government Ministers don’t do political pressure, do they?

It’s a mess, and hopefully some clarity will emerge as Ministers realise it and perhaps try to fix it.  However, perhaps if you live in a world where everything is a mess, then that becomes the norm.

Whilst the above relates to deer control leases, it does not apply to game shooting leases, as they do not fall into the exemption criteria.

We will keep you updated with progress as soon as we can.