Businesses and property experts have reacted with dismay to government plans to scrap the Valuation Office Agency in an efficiency drive.
The Treasury said yesterday the VOA – the body responsible for valuing properties for business rates and council tax, and dealing with business rates appeals – would be merged with HMRC by April 2026.
It comes ahead of a government review of hundreds of ‘arm’s-length’ bodies to “slash red tape, increase oversight and ministerial accountability and rewire Whitehall to be more productive and agile”.
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray said: “We are determined to reduce the hassle of the tax system for British businesses and taxpayers. Ending the inefficiency and duplication of a standalone VOA will help us drive change faster and improve value for money.”
However, High Streets UK, which claims to represent more than 5,000 companies, said it would mean more uncertainty as the government pressed on with wider business rates reform.
High Streets UK chair Dee Corsi said the move was “deeply concerning” given businesses were already “sounding the alarm over the likely job losses and store closures”.
Scrapping the VOA would “only lead to more uncertainty for businesses, which will have little time to acclimatise to new multipliers, a new ratings list and, now, a new administrative process”, Corsi said.
The VOA supports the collection of over £60bn in business rates and council tax each year, while providing commercial property valuation services to the public sector. It was created in 1910 as part of the Inland Revenue and made a separate executive agency in 1991.
It is set to be disbanded at at the same time as wider business rates reforms are introduced from next April. Under the Non-Domestic Rates Bill, which became law earlier this month, business rates will be increased for the largest properties, including thousands of supermarkets, to fund lower rates for smaller properties in retail, hospitality and leisure.
John Webber, head of business rates at property consultancy Colliers, said: “In reality, the VOA has not been independent or arm’s length for years. This move is just confirming what we have known – that the role has become more politicised. This is disappointing when there is a recognised and actual need for a properly independent view.
“While the VOA has been criticised for many years, this is still a sad day for those in the VOA who still possess an independent mind and view,” Webber added.
Corsi said: “We continue to call for a freeze to any increase in multipliers until after the 2026 revaluation, and an exemption for all retail, leisure and hospitality businesses which play a vital economic role on high streets across the nation.”
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