The planned switch from RPI to CPI was initially slated to take place in 2020, but has now been brought forward to April 2018.

RPI reflects property costs such as mortgages, while CPI excludes those costs and is as such lower.

Gerry Biddle, director of business rates at Deloitte Real Estate, said the switch from RPI to CPI will save ratepayers 0.9% on their bills, while the measure is expected to cost the Exchequer £253m in its first year.

Hammond also confirmed the government would be increasing the frequency with which the Valuation Office Agency revalues non-domestic properties. Under the plans, revaluations will take place every three years following the next revaluation, currently due in 2022.

To enable this, ratepayers will be required to provide regular information to the Valuation Office on who is responsible for business rates and property characteristics including use and rent. The government will consult on the implementation of these changes in the spring.

In light of the recent rise in inflation, over the next five years the government will provide a further £2.3bn of transition support to businesses affected by the upcoming revaluation.

Despite the changes, Alvarez & Marsal Taxand managing director Jonathan Hornby called for deeper reform of the business rates system.

He said: ‘Compared with the current approach, business rates will likely fall by around £500m per year. However, this is likely to be a short-term win: many would argue that the system needs a more fundamental reform.

‘Ultimately, the high street operators will feel like they’re losing out until the government comes up with a way to put their online competitors on a more even footing and the new tax announced today on digital businesses will only go some way towards reducing the gap.’

For businesses affected by the so-called ‘staircase tax’, the government will legislate for them to be able to request that the Valuation Offce Agency (VOA) to recalculate valuations so that bills are based on previous practice backdated to April 2010, including those who lost Small Business Rate Relief as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.

The original case centred on a dispute between accountancy firm Mazars and the Valuation Office Agency valuer over the valuation of the firm’s office space which was split over several non-adjacent levels.

As a result of the ruling at the Supreme Court, issued in July 2015, the conventional approach to valuations had to overturned.

In a statement at the time, the Valuation Office Agency said it was legally obliged to treat different areas of the same building which are accessed through communal areas as separate premises for business rates purposes.

Report by Calum Fuller