2003 No. 3130

RATING AND VALUATION, ENGLAND

The Non-Domestic Rating Contributions (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2003

Made

Laid before Parliament

Coming into force

The First Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 143(1) and (2) of, and paragraphs 4 and 6 of Schedule 8 to, the Local Government Finance Act 19881 and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement1

These Regulations may be cited as the Non-Domestic Rating Contributions (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 31st December 2003.

Amendment of the Non-Domestic Rating Contributions (England) Regulations 19922

Schedules 1 and 2 to the Non-Domestic Rating Contributions (England) Regulations 19922 are amended as follows in relation to financial years beginning on or after 1st April 2004.

Rules for the calculation of non-domestic rating contributions3

In Schedule 1—

a

in paragraph 1(4)—

i

for “2003” there is substituted “2004”; and

ii

delete the words “less £6.5 million”.

b

in paragraph 3(1)(a), after “section 47(2)(a)” there is inserted “or 47(2)(ba)”3;

c

in paragraph 3(1)(b), after “section 47(2)(a)” there is inserted “or 47(2)(ba)”;

d

in paragraph 3(3), after “section 47(2)(a)” there is inserted “or 47(2)(ba)”;

e

in paragraph 4(4), for “2003 is £83,606,000” there is substituted “2004 is £84,106,000”; and

f

for Part II there is substituted—

PART IICOST FACTORS

Name or description of authority

Cost factor

The councils of the districts of Bracknell Forest, Crawley, Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Slough, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley, Windsor and Maidenhead and Woking

1.1424

The councils of the districts of Broxbourne, Chiltern, Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, Hertsmere, St Albans, South Buckinghamshire, Three Rivers, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield

1.1163

The councils of the districts of Reading, West Berkshire and Wokingham

1.1208

The councils of the districts of Basildon, Brentwood, Epping Forest, Harlow, Dartford, Sevenoaks and Thurrock

1.0904

The councils of the districts of Aylesbury Vale, Milton Keynes and Wycombe

1.0825

The council of a district which falls within the county of Oxfordshire

1.0805

The councils of the districts of Bedford, Luton, Mid Bedfordshire, North Hertfordshire, South Bedfordshire and Stevenage

1.0513

The councils of the districts of Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough and South Cambridgeshire

1.0471

The councils of the districts of Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Hart, Havant, New Forest, Portsmouth, Rushmoor, Southampton, Test Valley and Winchester

1.0429

The councils of the districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Worthing

1.0325

The council of a district which falls within the county of Warwickshire

1.0361

The councils of the districts of Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, Swindon and West Wiltshire

1.0330

The councils of the districts of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire

1.0336

The council of a district which falls within the county of Northamptonshire

1.0296

The councils of the districts of Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Gravesham, Maidstone, Medway, Shepway, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells

1.0195

The council of a district which falls within the county of Gloucestershire

1.0237

The council of a district which falls within the West Midlands metropolitan county

1.0290

The councils of the districts of Chester, Congleton, Crewe and Nantwich, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Halton, Macclesfield, Vale Royal and Warrington

1.0219

The council of a district which falls within the Greater Manchester metropolitan county

1.0195

The councils of the districts of Braintree, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea, Tendring and Uttlesford

1.0154

The councils of the districts of Brighton and Hove, Eastbourne, Hastings, Lewes, Rother and Wealden

1.0134

The council of a district which falls within the Merseyside metropolitan county

1.0102

The council of a district which falls within the West Yorkshire metropolitan county

1.0117

The council of a district other than a district named, or falling within a description given, above

1.0000

The council of an inner London borough

1.2505

The councils of the boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton

1.1411

The councils of the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Enfield, Haringey, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest

1.0894

The Common Council of the City of London

1.4751

The Council of the Isles of Scilly

1.5000

The Isle of Wight Council

1.0000

Assumptions relating to provisional amounts4

In relation to financial years beginning on or after 1st April 2004, in Schedule 2—

a

in paragraph 2(12) for “0.961” there is substituted “0.959”;

b

in paragraph 3, after “section 47(2)(a)” there is inserted “or 47(2)(ba)”;

c

in paragraph 4, after “section 47(2)(a)” there is inserted “or 47(2)(ba)”; and

d

for the table in paragraph 8(1) there is substituted the following—

Name or description of authority

Percentage

The council of a metropolitan district

1.0

The council of a non-metropolitan district which has the functions of a county council

0.7

The council of a non-metropolitan district which does not have the functions of a county council

0.5

The council of an inner London borough, and the Common Council of the City of London

0.9

The council of an outer London borough

1.1

The Council of the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight Council

0.7

Signed by authority of the First Secretary of State

Nick RaynsfordMinister of StateOffice of the Deputy Prime Minister

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Under Part II of Schedule 8 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”), billing authorities are required to pay amounts (called non-domestic rating contributions) to an account held by the Secretary of State (“the national non-domestic rating pool”). The national non-domestic rating pool is subsequently distributed to authorities under the rules in Part III of Schedule 8 to the 1988 Act. Payments into the national non-domestic rating pool in respect of the provisional amount of the non-domestic rating contributions are made during the financial year, final calculations and adjustments of the non-domestic rating contributions are made after the year ends.

These Regulations amend the rules for calculation of non-domestic rating contributions and the assumptions to be made in calculating the provisional amount of the non-domestic rating contributions contained in the Non-Domestic Rating Contributions (England) Regulations 1992 (“the 1992 Regulations”), with effect from 1st April 2004. They make amendments in relation to—

a

the offset for a special authority in paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 1 to the 1992 Regulations;

b

the national cost of collection figure in paragraph 4(4) of Schedule 1 to the 1992 Regulations;

c

the cost factors in Part II of Schedule 1 to the 1992 Regulations;

d

the buoyancy factor in paragraph 2(12) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Regulations; and

e

the losses in collection percentages in paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Regulations.

Following an amendment to the 1988 Act by section 64 of the Local Government Act 2003 (c. 26), registered community amateur sports clubs are entitled to mandatory rate relief under sections 43 and 45 of the 1988 Act at the same level as charities. As with charities, billing authorities are allowed to top-up this mandatory rate relief with discretionary relief under section 47 of the 1988 Act. Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the 1992 Regulations requires billing authorities to pay into the national non-domestic rating pool 75% of any discretionary relief granted to a charity. The amendments in regulations 3(b), 3(c), 3(d) and 4(b) and 4(c) extend this rule to discretionary relief granted to registered community amateur sports clubs.