Transitional arrangements 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2017
All rateable values are generally reassessed every 5 years at a general revaluation to make sure bills paid by any one ratepayer reflect changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. The current rating list is based on the 2010 revaluation.
The government has confirmed that the next revaluation will be in 2017 based on rental values at 1 April 2015. Visit the GOV.UK website for more information.
In the year of revaluation the multipliers are rebased to account for overall changes to total rateable value and to make sure that the revaluation does not raise extra money for government.
Similarly, the change in the revaluation date to 2017 has no effect on the total amount of revenue raised from business rates.
For those ratepayers who would have seen significant increases in their rates liability at the 2010 revaluation, a £2 billion transitional relief scheme was put in place to limit and phase in changes in rates bills as a result of the revaluation.
To help pay for the limits on increases in bills, there were also limits on reductions in bills. This scheme was due to end in 2015 but has been extended for some ratepayers until 2017.
Properties with a rateable value of less than £18,000 that would otherwise face bill increases above 15%, and properties with a rateable value of £50,000 or less would otherwise face bill increases of above 25%, will benefit. This will not affect those ratepayers in transition to lower bills whose scheme will end on 31 March 2015.
If there are any changes to the property after 1 April 2010, transitional arrangements will not normally apply to the part of a bill that relates to any increase in rateable value due to those changes.
Changes to your bill as a result of other reasons (such as because of changes to the amount of small business rate relief) are not covered by the transitional arrangements.
The transitional arrangements are applied automatically and are shown on the front of your bill.