Yahoo Finance Government denies business rates appeals system isn't working despite slew of complaints
The Government minister responsible for the business rates system has claimed that the new appeals process is “working well”, despite a slew of complaints from users who are struggling to register their properties.
In a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, Marcus Jones, Minister for Local Government, said that “early indications show the online system is working well”.
However, data from the Valuation Office Agency, the government department in charge of the system, showed that almost 90pc of users were dissatisfied with the process.
Mr Jones made the comments in a letter to MP Patrick McLoughlin, who had passed on a complaint about the new appeals process that he had received from one of his constituents.
The complaint concerned the online system which anyone who wants to appeal against the amount they are being charged for business rates must use.
Mr Jones said it was important that business rates appeals had moved away from “old arrangements where many speculative appeals were made with little or no supportive evidence, clogging up the system and causing delays for businesses with genuine cases”.
However, the new appeals system, called “Check, Challenge, Appeal”, has received widespread condemnation from businesses and ratings consultants who have struggled to use the online registration process.
Under the new system, information for each property must be entered manually and the user must provide their own personal details, including a national insurance and passport number, in order to proceed, even if it is a large business that is carrying out the appeal.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed last month that the Government had pushed ahead with plans to overhaul the appeals system despite not receiving a single consultation response in support of it.
John Webber, head of rating at consultancy Colliers International, called the system “a total mess”, saying “it really has not been designed to be user friendly in any way”.
He added that he felt the system actually discouraged appeals.
“It’s working well if you designed a system that doesn’t allow people to appeal,” he said.
