How to pay your business rates

If you're setting up a Direct Debit, you will need:

• the address of the property where you pay business rates
• your business rates account number – you can find it on your business rates bill
• your bank details

If you want to dispute a missing payment you will need to log into your My Lewisham account. If you don’t have one already, please choose 'register' and follow the instructions to create your account. Once you've created an account and logged in, it should take between five and 10 minutes to complete the form. You'll need to have your business rates account number, evidence of the payment and details of where and when the payment was made.

Other methods

PayPoint/Post Office

You can only pay by cash at PayPoint but you can pay by cash, cheque or debit card at the Post Office. All you need is your bill with a barcode on it.

Find your nearest PayPoint  outlet.

By telephone

Phone our 24 hour automated service on 020 8690 8707 or call the Business Rates team on 020 8314 6150. Our telephone lines are open from 9am to 12 noon, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Closed all day on Wednesdays. (Payments under £3 cannot be accepted by this method). Please have your account number and card details ready.

By standing order

Call the business rates helpline on 020 8314 6150 to request a standing order mandate to be sent to you.

At any bank

You can pay your business rates at any bank by cheque or cash. Some banks charge for this if you are not one of their customers. If you are paying at a bank, remember to allow an extra seven days to make sure your payments reach us on time.

Our account details are:

Address: Barclays bank, 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP
Sort code: 20-00-00
Account number: 93380513

Please quote your business rates account number.

If you've received a business rates text reminder

We occasionally send out a text reminder if your account falls into arrears or a payment is due to help you avoid falling behind on payments. It’s your responsibility to ensure your business rates are paid on time. 

We’re aware the current cost of living crisis is affecting our residents and business owners, and we want to help you avoid getting into debt by engaging promptly and doing what we can to help while collecting business rates. 

If your business rates account falls into arrears and payments are late, we may send a text or voice message before taking further recovery action. 

Text messages

Text messages can help you avoid getting an official notice if you pay promptly, which could also save extra costs being added to your account. 

While this service is meant to help you stay on track, you shouldn't rely on it completely. You should still make your payments by the due date on your bill to avoid automatic recovery actions.

The text messages are sent by London Borough of Lewisham (displayed as LBLewisham) and will show a link to lewisham.gov.uk/business-rates-reduction, providing information about arrangements and payment methods, reliefs and discounts.