Valuation Office launches ratepayer forum

22 January 2001

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) believes that more ratepayers should be able to take an active role in the process by which their properties are valued for business rates. This is a vital part of the government agency's plans to transform valuation for business rates and to increase the confidence of ratepayers.

To take forward ratepayer involvement in valuation for rating, the VOA has announced the formation of the National Ratepayers' Valuation Forum (NRVF) to provide direct communication between the VOA, whose valuation officers are responsible for all rating assessments in England and Wales, and ratepayers.

Bruce Jones, Director of Modernisation, said,

'We want to demystify and open up the process of valuation for business rates and to move away from the present appeals based culture. It is not in the interests of either ratepayers or the VOA to wait until after the rateable values have been set to talk. We want to involve ratepayers in the process so that they can understand what we are doing and what we need from them to produce assessments that they can have confidence in from the start of a new rating list. The information flow needs to be two way and requires some structure to make it work. We have begun by setting up a national forum and in due course we will be establishing local forums to deal with local issues.'

One forum member, Colin Mason of the Engineering Industries Association, said, 'Business Rates are a very significant overhead for businesses. I am certain that bringing together a broad cross-section of ratepayers in this way will lead to a better understanding of the valuation aspects of the rating system.'

The national forum is drawn from representatives of trade associations and ratepayer organisations in England and Wales. Members include:

The full aims and objectives of the NRVF, its code for consultation and a summary of meetings will appear shortly on the VOA website. The forum will meet again on 24 January 2001.

Notes for editors

The Valuation Office is an Executive Agency of the Inland Revenue established under the Next Steps principles. Like all Next Steps agencies, the Valuation Office is subject to review, normally every five years. These reviews

• examine whether the agency should be abolished, privatised or its work contracted out,
• if agency status is reconfirmed, consider whether any revisions are required to the agency's Framework Document, and
• evaluate the agency's performance.

The VOA has launched its transformation strategy as part of its response to the report of the review which was published on 13 September 2000.

Most non-domestic property has a rateable value which is assessed independently by the Valuation Office Agency. Valuation Officers have a statutory duty to review rateable values every five years.

In broad terms the rateable value is a professional view of the annual rent for a property if it was available on the open market at a fixed valuation date. Using the same date for all values means that all properties have been assessed on the same basis. The valuation date for the 2000 revaluation is 1 April 1998. The new rateable values came in to effect on 1 April 2000.

Rateable values are a key factor in the calculation of business rates. They are not the rates bill. An increase or decrease in rateable value does not automatically lead to a smaller or larger rate bill because the final calculation is based on a number of other factors. These include transitional relief and the multiplier which is set by Government. Local Authorities are responsible for calculating rates bills and collecting rates.

For further information

VOA web-site: www.voa.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 0207 506 1927
Email: ayesha.owusu-barnaby@voa.gsi.gov.uk