Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delay in adding his business premises to the rating list. This is because the Valuation Office Agency is responsible for determining whether premises should be added to the list and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council delayed in registering his business premises with the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). As a result he says he missed out on a grant for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also unhappy the Council has invoiced him for unpaid business rates dating back give years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Background

4. Mr X moved to premises which were not in the rating list in 2018. The VOA brought the premises into the rating list in 2022 and backdated the entry to 2018, when Mr X took on the leases. The Council then issued demands for business rates covering the period since 2018.
5. Mr X is unhappy he has been billed for this period and says that if the Council had applied to have the premises brought into the rating list sooner, he would have received a £10,000 COVID-19 business grant.

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My assessment

6. The VOA is responsible for assessing premises and deciding whether they should be in the rating list. It also decides the rateable value for the property. It is therefore responsible for the timing of the decision to add the premises to the list and the details of the entry, not the Council.
7. Mr X knew when he took on the premises that they were not in the rating list. If they had been, he would have been liable for business rates for them. Had Mr X believed they should have been in the rating list Mr X could have ask for them to be rated, but he did not.
8. The Council was not at fault for billing Mr X for business rates over the period of his liability and it did so promptly once the VOA added the premises to the rating list.
9. But the addition of the premises to the rating list and the Council’s invoice for business rates did not give rise to eligibility for any COVID-19 grant schemes which had already closed. The initial scheme which allowed businesses such as Mr X’s to apply for a £10,000 grant was only for businesses which were on the rating list on 11 March 2020. Government guidance stated specifically that changes to the rating list after this date should be ignored for the purposes of eligibility, so Mr X did not qualify. We could not therefore say Mr X missed out on the scheme as a result of any fault by the Council.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman