• Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • LATIF
  • Conferences
  • Dashboard
  • Edit My Profile
  • Log In
  • Logout
  • Register
  • Edit this post

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • £400bn pension group collaborates on climate transition initiative

    May 17, 2022

  • CIPFA rejects proposal for vote on publication of fraud hub report

    May 17, 2022

  • John Turnbull elected president of the SLT

    May 12, 2022

  • Pension pool identifies biodiversity as a priority

    May 11, 2022

  • TfL latest to face credit-rating downgrade by Moody’s

    May 10, 2022

  • Government proposes ‘fairer, more accurate’ business rates system

    May 10, 2022

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Briefs

Richard Harbord: Business rates reform still addressing many unanswered questions

0
  • by Richard Harbord
  • in Blogs · Richard Harbord
  • — 2 Aug, 2016

Now the first consultation document on business rates devolution has been published, it is a good time for a moment’s reflection on the project and the progress made.

In short, the steering group, and its sub groups have worked very hard but their work is far from over.

Richard Harbord

Richard Harbord

There is no mistaking just how huge, significant and complicated this has all become. I have no doubt that when the then chancellor, George Osborne, stood up at the Conservative conference last year and made the announcement that started all this he did not think he was launching anything quite so complex.

The consultation paper expects responses by September. The process is very open with a genuine desire on all sides to get a large number of responses so that the package on offer can be refined.

This is a joint effort between the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), although the consultation paper itself was from DCLG only.

It had been discussed in draft by the relevant sub group and the steering group, but I think significantly all the groups are comprised only of officers and there has been to this point no political input from the LGA and their response will be the start of that.

There are still a number of sticking points. These are principally around the definition of “fiscally neutral”; what happens to additional burdens and growth in quantum; the final package of other services devolved to local authorities as part of the package; and the notion that not all services may be devolved to all authorities.

Indeed, there has been a great deal of discussion about the authorities who have already agreed a devolved deal which involves the devolution of business rate and how they should now be treated.

It has been confirmed (although I personally never thought otherwise) that the business rate will remain classified as a central government tax. This is mainly because they will set the basic poundage and the general parameters to be worked under.

Family tensions

The discussions and meetings are continuing. Some groups are meeting in August to finalise and work up their own response to the consultation, some groups like the “fairer funding “ group have an extended work programme which will stretch until 2018 and is , of course, totally central to the final outcome.

As a casual observer (I have been to the Steering Group and two of the sub groups) the inevitable difficulty has been that the participants all represent a different part of the local government family.

Therefore they have naturally been fighting the corner for the districts, counties, and combined authorities etc.

This is inevitable but it has meant on occasion that the best answer for local government as a whole may not have been reached.

This is, of course, a problem the LGA faces the whole time. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy everyone.

Workload

Following the referendum, there were fears that the volume of work faced by government would affect projects like this but the consultation paper came out on time and at present the work continues as planned.

There is a huge amount of work and legislation needed to make this all work.

In parallel, we await the government response to the consultation on the valuation side of business rates.

It seems certain that there will be more frequent (three-yearly?) valuations but there are still questions to answer. Could they be on self-assessment or Valuation Office Agency valuations and, very importantly, what rights will local authorities have on proposals and appeals?

Also, what shape will the appeals system take and will authorities still bear the risk of back-dated appeal losses?

This has been discussed at the working group, and options discussed, but the cost would have to be met from somewhere and that might mean top slicing the quantum.

For all these reasons it would be a real achievement to be ready to go in 2020. I note in passing that universal credit is entering its eleventh year of implementation, with the final date recently put back to 2021. It has also been unbelievably expensive and over budget. I am sure Paddy Power will offer odds on which of these major changes will be implemented in full first.

Richard Harbord is a consultant and a former chief executive of Boston Borough Council

Get the Room151 Newsletter

Share

You may also like...

  • LGPS webinar finds built environment a “clear investment opportunity” 29th Apr, 2021
  • Room151’s 10th Anniversary: A treasury decade that saw borrowing double and investments transformed 25th Nov, 2021
  • Putting alternatives at the heart of multi-asset portfolios 12th Jan, 2021
  • LGPS weighs up alternatives 26th Oct, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Latest tweets

    Room151 11 hours ago

    More evidence of the importance of emerging markets in the journey to net-zero. @BordertoCoast @BrunelPP @northernlgps @EAPensionFund @WYPF_LGPS Click the link below to read 🔻🔻 #LGPS #NetZero #NetZeroCarbon #EmergingMarkets room151.co.uk/brief/400bn-pe… pic.twitter.com/qCm0EGxzLn

    Room151 5 days ago

    ‘Urgent consultation’ issued in response to continuing audit delays: CIPFA and the Local Authority Scotland Accounts Advisory Committee (LASAAC) have announced another “urgent consultation” to consider proposals to address the latest issue that has led… dlvr.it/SQJ0kV pic.twitter.com/s6vw0bnGXO

    Room151 5 days ago

    Bags of capacity – now to housing delivery: HRAs have been freed up and councils are starting to invest, but some remain cautious, writes Steve Partridge. He suggests that a minimum of £10bn of additional borrowing could be[...] dlvr.it/SQDvxk pic.twitter.com/yZmoWzHv6U

    Room151 5 days ago

    Bags of capacity – now to housing delivery room151.co.uk/treasury/bags-…

    Room151 6 days ago

    To Michael Gove: a modest proposal: Conrad Hall has written an open letter to the levelling up secretary suggesting an unusual (and tongue-in-cheek) proposal to help councils predict next year’s government grant. Dear Secretary of State,[...] dlvr.it/SQ9GpX pic.twitter.com/mSX1xgeL8a

    Room151 7 days ago

    Queen’s Speech: an ambitious plan hampered by omissions: Richard Harbord examines the impact of the government’s legislative proposals on councils, and concludes that local authorities expect and need more from central government. However you view the… dlvr.it/SQ8hmP pic.twitter.com/BsnziyNPIO

    Room151 1 week ago

    Insights and inspiration from LGPS leaders past and present: Four current and former LGPS leaders have recently given powerful and insightful interviews as part of the Fiftyfaces podcast, which showcases inspiring investors and their stories. Hosted by… dlvr.it/SQ53lC pic.twitter.com/IRYMFPxdA2

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Audit
    • Blogs
    • Business rates
    • Chris Buss
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • Council tax
    • Dan Bates
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Education
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Governance
    • Graham Liddell
    • Housing
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Infrastructure
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • Levelling up
    • LGPS
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Net Zero
    • Private markets
    • Recent Posts
    • Regulation
    • Resources
    • Responsible investing
    • Richard Harbord
    • Risk management
    • Social care
    • Stephen Fitzgerald
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Transport
    • Treasury
    • Uncategorized
    • William Bourne
  • Archives

    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Chris Buss: How do you solve a problem like £500m?
  • Next story Post-Brexit PWLB borrowing slows in July while annual figures up 17%

© Copyright 2022 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

0 shares