The Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 (Consequential Amendments to Secondary Legislation) (Wales) Regulations 2023

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

The Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 (“the 2023 Act”) implements a number of changes to the system of non-domestic rating in England and Wales.

These Regulations make amendments to secondary legislation in relation to Wales which are consequential on sections 1, 2, 3 and 14 of, and Part 1 of the Schedule to, the 2023 Act.

Sections 1 to 3 of the 2023 Act repeal certain provisions in Part 3 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”), and re-enact those provisions in new Schedules 4ZA, 4ZB and 5A to that Act.

Regulations 2 to 5 of these Regulations amend the Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989, the Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1990, the Non-Domestic Rating (Demand Notices) (Wales) Regulations 2017, and the Non-Domestic Rating (Small Business Relief) (Wales) Order 2017 as a consequence of the re-enacted provisions in section 58 of, and Schedules 4ZA and 4ZB to, the 1988 Act.

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 4ZA and paragraph 3 of Schedule 5A to the 1988 Act introduce a new relief (improvement relief) for eligible properties on the local and central lists respectively.

Regulation 6 of these Regulations amends the Non-Domestic Rating (Chargeable Amounts) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (“the 2022 Regulations”) to take into account the effect of improvement relief on the rateable value of a property when calculating the notional chargeable amount for the purposes of regulation 6 of the 2022 Regulations. It also amends the 2022 Regulations as a consequence of the re-enacted provisions in section 58 of, and Schedule 4ZB to, the 1988 Act.

Section 14 of the 2023 Act, which makes provision in relation to matters not to be taken into account when determining rateable values between revaluations in England, amends paragraph 2(7) of Schedule 6 to the 1988 Act.

Regulation 7 of these Regulations amends the Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2023 as a consequence of the amendments made to Schedule 6 to the 1988 Act.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with this instrument.