Reviewing Small Business Rate Relief reveals potential revenue for Rochdale
We partnered with Rochdale Borough Council to see if a review of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) would prove cost-effective. We identified more than £1m in potential revenue from only 20% of cases.
Helping local businesses to grow
Small businesses can apply for a discount on their business rates. The extent of the relief depends on factors like employee numbers, turnover and the rateable value of the property.
To ensure this relief is still going to the right places – and with the last check back in 2020 – Rochdale asked us to conduct a review where we would verify eligibility for a sample of accounts to inform next steps. This follows our successful completion of other reviews relating to Single Person Discount and Empty Properties.
Delivering the SBRR review
To start, Rochdale sent us 700 randomly selected accounts, around 20% of the total caseload. We worked with our data matching provider to check for details such as turnover and number of employees and wrote to each business to ask them to reconfirm their eligibility, following up with a second letter three weeks later.
We also asked our long-standing partner, Reigate & Bansted Council, to complete a number of property visits ahead of cancelling the relief for ineligible or non-responding businesses. This followed issue identified in the data matching phase, such as incorrect addresses or different businesses listed at the same address.
Throughout, we managed all customer contact on the council’s behalf and updated their revenues and benefits system as required. Businesses were given 12 weeks to respond, including up to three weeks after any cancellation.
Promising results
With Rochdale’s agreement, we cancelled 33% of the claims and reissued new invoices, backdated to the last review of rateable value in 2023.
Through a combination of cancelling the claims or adjusting the relief, we identified £1.1m in additional billing from reviewing 20% of the accounts.
700
cases
12
week review
33%
SBRR claims cancelled
£1.1m
additional billing identified
See more on how Small Business Rates Relief can reveal potential revenue