Wales axes new appeal system in rates row

COMMUNITIES Minister Sajid Javid was last night under pressure to reverse the Government’s business rates reforms after it emerged Wales had scrapped the system’s most controversial features.

The Welsh Government, which former Chancellor George Osborne granted powers to vary the new system, has said it regards the new rules as an ‘England-only’ plan.

The split centres on the new appeals system for rates bills, known as Check Challenge Appeal (CCA), which critics have already warned will delay companies getting their bills corrected and may put many firms off complaining at all.

Scotland has a different appeals process, without the Check Challenge Appeal system. However, there are fears it could be overwhelmed by the number of appeals from business owners.

The Welsh Government has now said it will not impose the system being introduced in England in April and leading business advisers this weekend urged Westminster to follow its lead.

John Webber, head of ratings at property services company Colliers International, said: ‘People are looking at Check Challenge Appeal and they can see a car crash coming. I think the Welsh can see through the nightmare that will be CCA in its current form.

‘CCA is not there to help rate payers – it is there to help keep the money in the coffers of the local authorities, who are desperate for money, and prevent people from being incentivised to make an appeal even if they suspect a bill is wrong and they are being overcharged.’

Hundreds of thousands of firms will see sharp rises in their rates bills and a flood of potential appeals is expected. A spokesman for the Welsh Government told The Mail on Sunday that it regarded the new appeals system as an ‘Englandonly initiative’ and that its Local Government Minister, Mark Drakeford, was examining rules that could make its system ‘fair and reasonable’.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said CCA would make the appeals system ‘easier’ for companies.