According to business rates experts at Colliers, latest business rates appeal figures announced has revealed that the business rates system and in particular, CCA, the Check Challenge Appeal Business Rates Appeals System isn’t up to scratch with many businesses still struggling to get their business rates appeals through the system.
According to government statistics, in the first sixth months of the new 2023 list (1 April to 30 September 2023), 30,950 Checks (the first part of the appeal process) were registered of which almost 40 per cent,12,160 still remain outstanding.
Only 2,530 have progressed to the Challenge stage and of these Challenges, only 180 have been resolved (a low 7 per cent). In addition 8.3 per cent of all Challenges have been labelled as “incomplete” by the VOA and therefore void.
Given the difficulty for businesses in registering a Check in CCA in the first place, with the amount of detail businesses need to provide so that most businesses now have to use professional rating surveyors, Colliers says this level of rejection, often on a technicality, is unacceptable and shows how arduous this system is for ratepayers.
Source: Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce