Preparing you for new ratepayer obligations AND savings opportunities
The Duty to Notify changes that are hotly anticipated this year will be one of the greatest shakeups to business rates for over 30 years.
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is soon to introduce commencement regulations imposing new obligations on ratepayers to notify the authorities of key events, such as a new occupier, lease details changes and site changes. Notification is required both at the point of the change, as well as on an annual basis.
For schools and colleges this will be yet another significant area of compliance to contend with. The good news is that we can help clients prepare for these changes as well as identify any savings opportunities across the new Rating List period (from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2026).
Changes in legislation will enable significant penalties to be imposed on ratepayers for failing to comply with the new Duty to Notify regulations. These penalties are designed to ensure that businesses are providing accurate and up-to-date information to the VOA.
Although not yet in force, here’s a breakdown of some of the potential penalties:
- If a ratepayer “knowingly or recklessly” makes a false statement by way of notification, this may be dealt with as a criminal offence with a maximum prison sentence of 3 months, and a civil penalty of 3% of the rateable value plus £500.
- In any other case where the ratepayer fails to comply with the notification requirements, the maximum civil penalty is the greater of 2% of the rateable value, or £900.
- If the ratepayer does not then comply with the notification requirement within 30 days of the penalty notice being served, they are liable to a maximum further fine of £60 per day until notification, capped at £1800.
It’s important to note that these penalties are in addition to any backdated business rates that may be owed due to the failure to notify.
To help you prepare for the new compliance changes, together with more frequent revaluations, a trusted adviser on hand is more essential than ever to navigate you through your new legal duties.
Our helpful guide to Business Rates, set out below, provides outline details of the anticipated changes. We have split our Business Rates services between those we consider essential and those which are additional services.
The primary aim of reviewing business rates assessments for clients, remains the potential scope to save you money. We will review a new assessment prior to proceeding, and once we have determined scope, we can proceed accordingly.
This service is split into 2 stages: –
Prepare – We will Prepare a ‘healthcheck’ for you to assist in understanding the makeup of your assessment(s).
This will help you understand any known under-assessments and we can provide any budget reports for you to assist with accruals.
Review – We will Review any assessment(s) in response to your particular circumstances following the ‘Healthcheck’. Any Check and Challenge to the Valuation Office Agency will be pursued on your behalf together with reporting any settlements and reconciling savings on your behalf.
We will Maintain your assessment(s) going forward and assist you with any Duty to Notify obligations
In preparation for the launch of the Duty to Notify Regulation, we can assist you in minimising the potential impact on your business. For instance, we can advise on the best course of action if you have any under assessed building, and, in the broader context, we can assist you in formulating your School Master plan in the light of the proposed changes.
Once the Duty to Notify obligations are live, we can support you across each and every aspect of the rates process. You may decide you would prefer us to deal with the technicalities of each aspect of the notification duties, or you may instead intend to satisfy the new compliance obligations yourself with support from us where needed.
As you adapt and change your boarding provision to meet current pupils’ requirements, your corresponding configuration for Council Tax purposes may also need updating.
It’s rare for the arrangement of your Council Tax liabilities to be correct, however, we can work with you to understand if this in your favour or whether there are savings opportunities.
Savings can theoretically be backdated to 1993 in some cases, but it is essential at the outset to understand and compare the arrangement of properties on site compared with the historical position. Please ask us if you wish to have a free consultation to discuss any assistance we can provide.
We are also mindful that many costs are rising across other essential cost areas, however, savings in these areas may be possible via audits, efficiency improvements and market overviews.
We have therefore teamed up with consultant partners across water rates and energy reviews to also help you manage these other costs areas.
Many organisations are less familiar with scope for savings in water rates, in part because deregulation occurred more recently. However, savings are also possible via audits of overpayments and efficiency improvements.
We have partnered with a specialist in reviewing water rates who run a government approved, PCR2015 compliant framework for the supply of water & water services.
Switching supplier can significantly reduce your water spend and fix future costs for up to 9 years.
Our partner company can offer the following services: –
- facilitate a switch of supplier with cost savings, where various approved suppliers will compete to offer you their best price
- investigate your spend for the last 6 years, and where errors have been made, can secure rebates. These too can be significant, in the hundreds of thousands of pounds at larger trusts
- help you to reduce your future spend through smart water management initiatives, and offer cost benefit analysis to help you decide how best to manage your water usage
- handle all communication with your chosen supplier for the life of the contract, you never need to go through the hassle of dealing with them directly
In short, we are not simply here to help you switch, but to partner with you for the duration through creating a robust and sustainable bespoke smart water management strategy.
Once a tolerated nuisance, your energy bills are now a matter of intense interest because of the cost and because of what they say about your energy procurement strategy, consumption and buildings efficiency.
In today’s world of environmental awareness, reduced consumption goes hand in hand with reaching sustainability goals and cost reduction. Achieving this can be easier that you think and it’s worth getting your energy costs as well as the patterns of consumption reviewed.
We have partnered with a cost reduction and carbon management specialists to probe energy use and consumption across your whole estate. The exploratory piece will take little of your time, even less if you have access to supplier portals or heating oil invoices to hand.
- Are the energy supplies for your estate fit for purpose?
- What actions can you take to lower usage? Is the billing correct?
- Do you know where all your meters are, including the defunct ones?
- Are the tax rates applied correct in all cases?
You’ll be surprised how much management information can be brought together with this simple but technical piece of work – offered on a no-obligation basis. You may even get rebates from surprising sources, and not just for this year but the last six years.
We are excited to build on the strong relations we have developed over the last 30 years with our education clients and to welcome new clients to our firm moving forwards.
We are adapting our business rates services to cater for the future needs of the sector and look forward to providing additional services to help schools be more efficient and save money across these additional site cost areas.
Please reach out and get in contact with us via the online form below to discuss this further on a no obligation basis.
Our experience
We advise over 400 independent schools, are regular attendees at the ISBA Conferences and have presented on this subject.
We were also the lead agent in the negotiations over a business rates agreement negotiated with the VOA, concerning the specialist basis of valuation adopted for most independent schools. This agreement was a major factor in the successes over the prior Rating List period. We are also the lead agent for the current and ongoing Rating List negotiations with the VOA.
Our team includes former senior Valuation Officers, which is invaluable in guiding appeals more smoothly through the process. Unusually for our industry, we also have developed a vast expertise across Council Tax for educational establishments, recently saving a large boarding school a substantial six-figure sum.
Who we are
We are a friendly and approachable firm of Chartered Surveyors, having been established around 30 years ago, working tirelessly to save our clients’ money on their business rates and Council Tax. We are also enhancing our services to include water rates and energy cost reductions.
What we stand for
Our hallmark is dealing with each job as a bespoke project, starting with its own high-level partner triage, with a surveyor then being tasked with pursuing an appeal where appropriate.
In the background, our administrative team deals with securing any eligible reliefs and rebates – ensuring the clients always comes first.
How can we help?
Simply scan and email over a copy rates, water or energy bill and we can review your property portfolio on a ‘no obligation’ basis. We will conduct some initial research and let you know our thoughts on the scope to progress.
