About mandatory or discretionary relief

You are entitled to an 80% reduction if you are:

• a charity, or trustee of a charity, whose property is mostly used for charitable purposes
• an organisation, which is not a registered charity, with charitable objectives. An articles of association or constitution must be provided
• a charity whose property is mostly used for the sale of goods donated.  Proceeds, after deductions for expenses, are used by the charity

We may award additional relief to:

• organisations entitled to mandatory relief
• non-profit making organisations whose main objectives are charitable, religious, educational, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts
• non-profit making organisations occupying premises mainly for the purposes of recreation

Applications are considered on an individual basis, but each organisation should:

• have an open membership policy
• provide facilities for disadvantaged groups such as disabled, unemployed or older people
• provide facilities for non-members such as schools
• provide these facilities by self help or through grants
• provide facilities complementary to those provided by us or relieve our need to provide such facilities
• provide facilities, in the main, for the benefit of our residents

Additional criteria applies for sporting clubs where more than half of the membership are active members. No reductions are given where a high level of admission fee is charged to the public, or where a club is a professional or semi-professional organisation. Clubs with bar facilities have to demonstrate the bar is incidental to the main purpose of the organisation.