VOA response to consultation on business floorspace statistics
Updated 25 March 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-domestic-rating-business-floorspace-quality-assurance-of-administrative-data-and-public-consultation/voa-response-to-consultation-on-business-floorspace-statistics
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) ran a consultation from 17 December 2024 to 30 January 2025 on the future of business floorspace statistics. The purpose of the consultation was to gain information on how the statistics are currently used and to capture user feedback on options for future development of these statistics. For further details, please see the consultation document.
The consultation received responses from representatives of business, industry bodies, central and local government, academia, and individuals responding in a personal capacity.
The following key comments emerged:
- The majority of respondents felt that option 1 (aggregating floorspace at the hereditament level) would best meet their needs.
- The main reasons for this were that it better reflects the actual stock of properties, and it is easier for users to interpret what is included in each category.
- Respondents also felt that changing the methodology would significantly impact their ability to analyse the property market.
- Respondents advised that more detailed sector breakdowns would be beneficial, particularly within the Industrial sector.
- Respondents also requested a more regular release of statistics, preferably at the same time each year.
The purpose of this exercise was to gain a better understanding of user needs for business floorspace statistics. This ensures that any changes made to future publications will better meet these needs.
We have concluded that option 1 (aggregating floorspace at the hereditament level) best meets the needs of those users that engaged with us. Changing methodology to option 2 (aggregating floorspace at the survey line level) would cause disruption to users and is therefore not the preferred option.
In future business floorspace statistics, we will:
- continue to aggregate floorspace at the hereditament level
- include more detailed sector breakdowns
- review the methodology for handling missing floorspace
- review the types of property that are included or excluded from the statistics
- update the accompanying documentation
- look to release future publications at the same time each year
The next release of business floorspace statistics will be published in summer 2025.
If you have any comments on this response to the consultation on business floorspace statistics, enquiries can be addressed to statistics@voa.gov.uk.