News Release Update 5 March
2002
Details
of the Valuation Office response in helping businesses who had appealed
against their business rates because of the impact of the restrictions
associated with foot and mouth disease are contained in the News
Releases dated 21
June 2001 and 25
July 2001.
This News Release
provides an update on our progress in dealing with the appeals and
advises on plans for reinstating any temporary allowances in rateable
value.
Position
to Date
As at the 31
December 2001 we had received 82,500 appeals citing foot and mouth
disease as the reason for seeking a reduction in rateable value.
The distribution of these appeals is shown on this
map, which depicted the 22 Group Valuation Officer boundaries
within England and Wales.
Of these appeals,
some 21,800 were regarded as being from businesses most likely to
have been significantly affected by the effects of the foot and
mouth disease restrictions and all unrepresented appeals. We called
these appeals, Category One and we are on target to have these appeals
settled (in conjunction with the independent Valuation Tribunals
where necessary) by the 31 March 2002.
The remaining
60,700 appeals are known as Category Two and will be dealt with
during 2002/03.
We shall continue
to give priority to any appeal, whether or not affected by foot
and mouth disease, where the ratepayer is suffering hardship.
Reinstatement
of Temporary Allowances
Where temporary
allowances are given they will generally be for a period up to 31
March 2002. The rateable value will be restored to it correct value
with effect from 1 April 2002. There may be some very limited examples
of where the effects of the restrictions imposed by foot and mouth
continue beyond 31 March 2002 and Valuation Officers will give consideration
to continuing the temporary allowance, based upon the specific circumstances
of each case.
Your billing authority will shortly be issuing a notification of
your rate charge for the year 2002/03. Where a temporary allowance
in rateable value has been given, your new rate bill will be based
on the current rateable value (i.e. reflecting the allowance) and
this will need to be revised once the Valuation Officer has reinstated
the temporary allowance in your rateable value. For technical reasons
Valuation Officers are unable to do this before 1 April 2002. Valuation
Officers will notify you and your billing authority when they have
done this. The billing authority will then need to recalculate your
rate charge for 2002/03 and notify you accordingly.
Temporary reductions
in respect Category One appeals will be reinstated during April
2002.
Any temporary
reduction in respect of Category Two appeals (which will also be
effective for the period to 31 March 2002) will be reinstated by
way of a Valuation Officer Notice, immediately following settlement
of the appeal. The billing authority will then be in a position
to revise the rate charge as necessary.
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