Latest Government figures reveal more than 845,000 business rates’ appeals were made in England and Wales against the 2017 Rating List.
A glut of appeals were lodged as the deadline to challenge the 2017 List loomed at the end of March this year but, according to Government statistics, a staggering 845,670 overall had been submitted for the first stage of the three phase Check Challenge Appeal (CCA) system.
Whilst the figure covers all Check appeals registered over the course of the 2017 list (Apr 1, 2017 – 31 March 2023) 132,690 (16%) of these were made in the final quarter of the last year of the List (Jan 1 – March 31, 2023). This last-minute flurry of appeals inevitably puts a huge strain on the Valuation Office Authority and resulted in 97,610 checks being outstanding by the time the appeal window closed. That’s an increase of 10,610 from the previous quarter.
Looking back further, Government figures state there were 1.085 million appeals made against the 2010 Rating List, before the new CCA system was implemented, a drop of almost 28 per cent. Some rating experts put the dip down to the new CCA being more complex and putting businesses off from even starting the appeal process.
CCA was introduced in April 2017 following a widespread consultation, with the Government looking to dampen demand and streamline the creaking appeal process. There have been some teething problems along the way but, as the most recent statistics reveal, businesses are still willing to take on the system if there is a realistic hope of a reduction in their business rates’ liability.
Anyone who wishes to have expert, impartial, advice about appealing their business rates contact the Dunlop Heywood team here.