What is Valuation Office Agency - The Valuation Office (VO) is an executive agency of the Inland Revenue that set up “The Uniform Business Rates System” (UBR) in 1990. They are the department that deals with the valuation of all commercial properties every 5 years. They set an estimated rental figure on each premises in the UK (RV) of which every business owner has to pay a certain percentage (The National Non-Domestic Multiplier which goes up each year on 1st April.)

What is Rateable Value (RV) - A Rateable value is the figure given to a property every 5 years and is based on the estimated rental figures 2 years prior e.g.
2005-2010 all RV’s were based on the hypothetical rental figures of 2003. To gather these figures the VO estimate the size of each property and its location this determines the price per square metre but this is hypothetically based. It is necessary to establish the accuracy of the Summary Valuation.
The RV changes every 5 years and as the rental figures only ever increase, the rateable value at the beginning of each block generally goes up accordingly.

What is National Non-Domestic Multiplier - This is the percentage of the rateable value that all business owners have to pay to the local authorities. This figure is set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the beginning of the financial year (1st April) and generally starts at around 40% at the beginning of the 5 year rating block and gradually increases to 50% towards the end based on the cost of living (inflation).

What is SBR – Small Business Relief - Introduced in 2005 SBR is there to assist small businesses. If a company owner has one property in the country they can apply for these benefits. The local council does not automatically give them out. It works in two stages the first being a slight decrease in the multiplier to properties with a value £21499 or less.
The Second Stage of SBR affects properties with a RV below £10000. For every £100 below £10000 the customer is entitled to 1% off of their payable amount. On a sliding scale from £10000 to £5000, business owners are entitled between 0-50% off the gross amount. Above £10000 properties will not gain this benefit and any value below £5000 will still only receive 50%.