Section 15: Multipliers
Section 15(2) makes provision for the multipliers in England. Most of section 15(2) (which inserts a new Part A1 of Schedule 7 to the 1988 Act) re-enacts the provisions currently in Part 1 of Schedule 7. The changes to the existing provisions in Schedule 7 are:
Chapters 2, 3 and 5 of the new Part A1 provide for both the non-domestic rating multiplier and the small business non-domestic rating multiplier to be indexed each year in line with the change in Consumer Prices Index at the September preceding the year in question rather than the Retail Prices Index. It also provides that the Treasury may, by regulations, index either multiplier by a figure less than the Consumer Prices Index. The existing requirement in paragraphs 3A and 4A of Part 1 that the non-domestic rating multiplier is found by making an addition to the small business non-domestic rating multiplier of an amount to meet the cost of the providing Small Business Rate Relief is omitted from the new Part A1.
The requirement in paragraph 6(4) of Schedule 7 that the multipliers cannot be confirmed until the relevant local government finance report has been approved by the House of Commons in relation to England has been removed for Part A1.
An anomaly in paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 which currently provides for the multiplier to be rounded down when it is calculated to between 5 and 6 ten thousandths (whereas the normal rules of rounding would result in that situation in rounding up) is corrected in Part A1 paragraph A9.
	Section 15(3)(a) and (c)(ii) correct similar anomalies in the existing provisions in relation to the indexation and rounding of the multiplier in Wales. To allow Wales to independently commence these changes, section 15(3)(b) and (c)(i) separate out the existing provision in paragraph 5(11) of Schedule 7. Section 15(4) removes the requirement that a multiplier in Wales cannot be confirmed until the relevant local government finance report(s) has been approved by the Senedd.