Release notes, September 25 2014 (England only)
Published 25 September 2014
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2014
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/council-tax-valuation-lists-summary-england-and-wales/release-notes-september-25-2014
Council Tax Valuation Lists: Summary (England only)
Released: 25 September 2014
Frequency of release: England and Wales (Annual), Wales only (Annual), England only (Annual)
Next Release: England and Wales (April 2015), Wales only (August 2015), England only (September 2015)
Summary
On 8 September 2014 there were 23.5 million domestic properties in England with a Council Tax band. This represents a small (less than 1%) increase in the number of banded properties since September 2013.
The South East region had the largest share of domestic properties with a council tax band in England, at 16 per cent, followed by London (15%) and the North West (14%).
Twenty five per cent of all domestic properties in England were in Council Tax band A, 20 per cent were in Council Tax band B, and just over 20 per cent were in Council Tax band C. The remainder were in Council Tax bands D to H.
About this release
This release provides a series of tables showing the number of dwellings by Council Tax Band for each administrative area in England, together with national and regional totals.
The counts are calculated from data for England extracted from the Valuation Office Agency’s administrative database on 8 September 2014.
For all tables counts are rounded to the nearest 10 with counts fewer than 5 but greater than 0 reported as negligible and denoted by ‘-‘. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Data quality
The information supplied in the tables is based on administrative data held within the VOA’s operational database. The VOA has made every effort to ensure its accuracy.
Use made of the data
This publication is being released as part of a general drive towards making VOA’s data more accessible. The release will support the Department for Communities and Local Government in carrying out its duties and will form part of a range of data used to allocate Formula Grant to Local Authorities under the Local Government Financial Settlement. The data will also be used to inform government policy, respond to Freedom of Information requests and to parliamentary questions as well as to conduct operational analyses to support the VOA.
Glossary
Area code – a unique identifier for administrative geographies as specified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Band – council tax band.
Billing authority – a local authority empowered to collect council tax on behalf of itself and other local authorities in its area.
Billing authority code – a unique identifier for billing authorities.
Dwelling – a dwelling is a separate unit of living accommodation, together with any garden, yard, garage or other outbuildings, attached to it, all occupied by the same person(s) and within the same area of land.
Background notes
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is a central government agency responsible, amongst other things, for banding homes for council tax purposes. It does not set the level of council tax nor collect the money, which is the task of local government.
The VOA has had responsibility for banding properties for council tax since the tax was first introduced in 1993, and before then the VOA was responsible for the earlier system of domestic rates. Council tax is a local tax, set by local councils, to help pay for local services. It uses the relative value of homes to determine each household’s contribution for these local services.
It is the duty of the VOA to act fairly and impartially, and to make sure that each home is correctly assessed and placed in the right band. This is so that there is the fairest possible basis on which local councils can send bills to taxpayers for the right amount of council tax – no more, no less. In carrying out this duty, the VOA operates to professional standards.
The VOA’s job is to place each home in one of eight valuation bands (nine bands in Wales) on the basis of its value at 1st April 1991 (1st April 2003 in Wales), which then determines the amount to be paid. The tables below show the breakdown of bands for England and Wales. New homes are assigned a band on the basis of what they would have been valued at in 1991 (2003 in Wales). The basis of valuation is set down in regulations made under the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Minor updates were made to the initial regulations in 1994 but they have not been changed since.
Bands for England
| Band | Value of dwelling (at April 1991) |
|---|---|
| A | Up to 40,000 |
| B | 40,001 up to 52,000 |
| C | 52,001 up to 68,000 |
| D | 68,001 up to 88,000 |
| E | 88,001 up to 120,000 |
| F | 120,001 up to 160,000 |
| G | 160,001 up to 320,000 |
| H | 320,001 and above |
Bands for Wales
| Band | Value of dwelling (at April 1991) |
|---|---|
| A | Up to 44,000 |
| B | 44,001 up to 65,000 |
| C | 65,001 up to 91,000 |
| D | 91,001 up to 123,000 |
| E | 123,001 up to 120,000 |
| F | 120,001 up to 162,000 |
| G | 162,001 up to 223,000 |
| H | 324,001 up to 424,000 |
| I | 424,001 and above |
Further information
The responsible statistician for this release is Sarah Sawyer who can be contacted via email at statistics@voa.gsi.gov.uk.
Further information on the area codes used in this release please refer to the ONS’s website at the following location: [http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/geographic-policy/best-practice-guidance/presentation-order-guidance/administrative-areas/index.html](New%20ONS%20link.doc# 1,0,316,0,, HYPERLINK ‘http://www.ons.gov.)
CSV Metadata
The following table provides the variable names and descriptions appearing on the CSV files included in this re ease.
| Variable | Variable Description |
|---|---|
| BA_CODE | Unique identifier for billing authorities |
| AREA_CODE | Unique identifier for administrative geographies as specified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) |
| AREA | Administrative area name |
| Band_A: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band A |
| Band_B: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band B |
| Band_C: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band C |
| Band_D: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band D |
| Band_E: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band E |
| Band_F: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band F |
| Band_G: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band G |
| Band_H: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band H |
| Band_I: | Counts of dwellings in Wales with Council Tax band I |
| TOTAL | Counts of dwellings in Wales across all Council Tax bands |
The table below details the variables present in each CSV file (as denoted by “X”).
| Variable/Table | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|
| BA_CODE | X | |
| AREA_CODE | X | X |
| AREA | X | |
| Band_A: | X | X |
| Band_B: | X | X |
| Band_C: | X | X |
| Band_D: | X | X |
| Band_E: | X | X |
| Band_F: | X | X |
| Band_G: | X | X |
| Band_H: | X | X |
| TOTAL | X | X |