You may well have heard already but I wanted to alert you to the changes in the top-ups and tariffs which the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) will be making. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is releasing new valuation data today and the new data will cause the top-ups and tariffs for both 2017/18 and 2018/19 to be amended.
We do not know the scale of the changes at an individual authority level but the MHCLG will be issuing a calculator, probably later today. We will update our MTFP model when the data is available. These changes will have knock-on effects for pilots and pools.
This is the email that was issued earlier today:
“The Valuation Office Agency has today revised the data on the change in rateable value between rating lists.
The previous data was published on 5th Oct 2017 and was used in the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement to calculate the revisions to tariffs and top-ups for 2017-18 (which then drive 2018-19 and 2019-20 tariffs and top-ups).
I am writing to alert you to the fact that, as a consequence of the revised data published by the VOA today, we will be amending the tariffs and top-ups published in the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement. The amended tariffs and top-ups will be included as part of the final Settlement.
I appreciate that this will be unwelcome news, but we feel that we have little option but to calculate the revisions to tariffs and top-ups on the basis of correct data.
Later today we will publish a calculator showing the “correct” 17-18 values for tariffs and top-ups and the basis on which those values were calculated. We will send you a copy of the calculator as soon as it is ready.
If you have any queries on this letter, please contact Mark Barnett (mark.barnett@communities.gsi.gov.uk tel: 0303 444 4217)."