VOA manual switches transitional relief certificates to 2026 scheme

The Valuation Office Agency's Rating Manual has replaced the 2017 transitional-relief certification chapterGOV with the rules for the 2026 rating listGOV, the next compilation date under the Non-Domestic Rating (Chargeable Amounts) (England) Regulations 2026Legislation. Transitional relief phases in bill increases after a revaluation, and the increases for those ratepayers are phased in over the financial years beginning on 1st April 2026, 2027 and 2028 ("the relevant years"). Transition works by comparing the rateable value, or the value a valuation officer certifies, for a hereditament on the last day of one list with the rateable value or certified value on the first day of the next list, with billing authorities applying the adjustments to the rate demand.

Part 5B now follows the 2026 instrumentGOV: regulation 14 (changes actually occurring on 1 April 2026), regulation 15 (partly occupied hereditaments under section 44A), regulations 17 and 18 (inaccuracies for 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2026), regulation 19 (pre-April splits, mergers and reconstitutions first shown on 1 April 2026), and the Schedule (splits, mergers and reconstitutions actually occurring on 1 April 2026). A persistent new feature across the 2026 certificates is the improvement-relief elementGOV: alongside the rateable value, the valuation officer must certify any amount that would have been certified under regulation 5(1) of the Non-Domestic Rating (Improvement Relief) (England) Regulations 2023 for a qualifying period including the certification dateGOV, so that where the improvement relief provisions apply, the Regulations have effect as if the value of A was the amount found by applying the formula combining the certified rateable value (F) and the certified improvement-relief amount (G).

For pre-April split, merger and reconstitution cases, the valuation officer retains power until 31 March 2027 to alter the 2023 list to show new hereditaments arising in those circumstancesGOV, so regulation 19 certificates need not be issued until 1 April 2027GOV. For Schedule cases on 1 April 2026 itself, the certificate records the rateable value that would have been shown for 1 April 2026 for the hereditament and facts as they stood on 31 March 2026, plus the parallel improvement-relief amount. The chapter lists the new certificate templates for each route (VO7632/VO7632A for regulation 14, VO7633/VO7633A for regulation 17, VO7634/VO7634A/VO7635/VO7635A for regulation 18, VO7636-VO7638 families for regulation 19, VO7967-VO7969 families for the Schedule).

The administrative machinery carries over in updated numbering. The appropriate valuation officer must certify values as soon as practicable after the circumstances come to attention, whether prompted by the billing authority, the Secretary of State, the ratepayer or otherwise, must notify the billing authority or the Secretary of State of a certificate's effect and send a copy to the ratepayer, with the copy sent to a ratepayer accompanied by a statement of the effect of regulation 23 (and, for a substituted-value certificate, a statement of the effect of paragraph (3)). An interested person dissatisfied with a certified value appeals by serving notice on the appropriate valuation officer stating reasons, within six months beginning with the certificate's issue date; unless the notice is withdrawn or officer and appellant agree the value in writing, the disagreement goes to the Valuation Tribunal for England. The revocation machinery in the 2026 instrument confirms the shift: regulations 16 to 21 on certificates in the 2016 Regulations are revokedLegislation, subject to a saving for valuation-officer retention and inspection of certificates under ongoing appeal. Part 5I now states that the 2017 scheme is closedGOV and no further 2017 scheme certificates should be producedGOV. The legal basis is the Non-Domestic Rating (Chargeable Amounts) (England) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/81)Legislation, made on 29 January 2026Legislation.