Latest Business Rates Appeals Figures Confirm Tsunami of Appeals' against the 2023 Rating List

According to business rates experts at Colliers, latest figures just announced by the government confirm the tsunami of business rates appeals against the 2023 Rating List as predicted, revealing a system “not fit for purpose” and “unable to cope".

According to government (VO) statistics, in the first three months of the year (January 1^st to 31^st March 2026), 129,810 new Checks (the first part of the appeal process) were registered against the 2023 Rating List in England, nearly five times the number of checks registered in the previous quarter (October to December 2025) when 26,170 new checks were registered, and up from 22,840 the quarter before. 

Overall, 341,020 Checks were registered in England since the start of the 2023 rating list (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026). Of these, 253,050 were resolved, and 87,970 remained outstanding.

In addition, VO figures revealed that 59,470 Challenges ( the second part of the CCA process) were registered since the start of the 2023 rating list. Of these,22,380 were resolved, 10,510 were marked incomplete (does not contain all the detail required in legislation) and 26,580 remained outstanding. In other words, the VO has only been able to resolve 38% of the Challenges registered in the whole three years of the list.

Looking at these figures, Colliers believes that the VO, now part of HMRC will not be able to cope with the increased numbers of checks or challenges.

According to John Webber, Head of Business Rates at Colliers, “Looking at the checks first. To work through five times the number as normal will take the VO at least two years looking at their previous rate of processing. And in terms of the Challenges, given the VO has only resolved 38% of those submitted in the whole three years of the list, how long is it going to take to resolve the remaining 45%?

"This certainly means the VO won’t finish with processing checks and challenges against the 2023 Rating List before it begins work on the 2029 list, which has an Antecedent Valuation Date (AVD)  of 1^st April 2027- less than 12 months away.

"And this is before checks and challenges start on the 2026 Rating List which undoubtedly will produce the same if not larger numbers. We have already seen how certain sectors such as retail and hospitality and hotels are clamouring against their new assessments!

"It’s going to be carnage and ratepayers unhappy with their business rates bills will be the ones to suffer.”

Colliers believes delays in registering checks against the 2023 list were caused by an overly complex registration system and the detailed information now required from businesses, which led many to delay submitting appeals until the last minute.

“In particular, businesses in the RHL (retail, hospitality and leisure) sectors that received business rates reliefs in the first two years of the 2023 list suddenly woke up to the fact that this support would be significantly reduced and then removed altogether. They therefore began to dispute their current rateable values.”

However, Colliers advises that businesses are sensible to challenge their rating assessments . As the VO’s own figures reveal: 58% of businesses who challenged their business rates valuations saw a reduced RV (rateable value) as a result, as did 54% of those who went onto the appeal stage. Success rates are therefore high.

However, Colliers is concerned about how slow the system is, particularly given there will be a potential change of law for the 2029 list, giving businesses only a six-month window in which to appeal.

”It’s going to be carnage,” says Webber. “ If this change goes ahead as planned, then the check stage will disappear and a fully reasoned challenge will have to be submitted in that six-month window – and that could be even shorter, if the Government follows the Scotland system, where it is only four months.

"This in effect means a ratepayer or their agent must deal with a 2023 appeal, a 2026 appeal and put forward a 2029 case for appeal in under three years.” 

Webber added, “The burden of business rates is too high and the lack of transparency about how assessments are arrived at remains the root cause of this shocking number of people that are trying to appeal their rate bills. We believe the VO is severely under resourced to deal with these numbers in the time frame and will struggle. Businesses will miss out.

"We must find a better system and a new way of dealing with appeals – and we need to do it now.“