Welcome to the joint Finance Advisory Network and CIPFA Benefits and Revenues Service resource hub for business rates retention (BRR). We'll be using this page to sign post all our event materials on the topic, along with helpful links to key DCLG and other websites, and to record everything we are finding out about this evolving topic!
Do note that, as we are learning more about BRR every day, some older material may be out-of-date or superseded by new information. Please always look at the date on materials to assess their relevance.
CIPFA event materials
Completing and Accounting for NNDR 3 2014-2015 - this April 2015 series was a step-by-step walk through of how to complete the NNDR 3 form for 2014-2015, incorporating a fully worked example of the subsequent accounting required.
Closedown 2014-2015 - in March 2015 we covered the accounting requirements as we entered year 2 of the scheme, which included additional requirements from those of year 1, as part of the wider series.
Accounting for Pooling 2014-2015 - this series in December 2014 followed on the pooling series from 2013-2014, allowing now experienced and authorities new to pooling to share concerns and experiences, as well as cover the accounting implications, including those necessary as we entered year two of the scheme.
Collection Fund Accounting for Local Authorities in England Practitioner Workshops - was an A to Z of Accounting for the Collection Fund, Council Tax and NDR that ran in October 2014.
Collection Fund Accounting for Revenues Practitioners - in September 2014 this half day event aimed to provide Revenue's practitioners with an understanding of the principles behind Collection Fund Accounting.
Closedown 2013-2014 - the element of this series that ran in March 2014 focused on NDR followed on from the Accounting for the new NDR Regime series, providing updates and new information on the accounting approach, including the spreading of backdated appeals, that wasn't available at the time of the earlier series.
Accounting for Pooling 2013-2014 - this March 2014 series was set up as a networking and technical accounting event for all authorities that were in a business rates pool for the first time in 2013-2014 or were thinking about it for 2014-2015, including a case study of one authority's approach.
Accounting for the new NDR Regime - this series ran November 2013 to January 2014 as a practical workshop approach to completing the expected accounting entries for the 2013/2014 closedown. It gave practitioners a step-by-step, journal-by-journal approach to follow.
Business Rates Guide – Lancashire County Council - A document produced by Lancashire County Council in December 2013 based on the Accounting for NDR Series summarising its application to the Council. This document also considers budgetary implications of the new rate retention scheme. It was the basis for the closedown 2013/2014 series pre-event-reading document ‘Business Rates Guide – CIPFA & Lancashire CC pre-course reading
Local Government Financial Reform – facing the challenges – this series ran in July 2013 and looked at the realities of the way that the changes being introduced by the Local Government Finance Act will have to be addressed by those implementing it on a daily basis.
Completing the NNDR1 form – this short series ran in January 2013 and helped authorities understand the technical and strategic requirements of this piece of work.
Local Government Finance Bill series – this series ran in November 2012 and gave finance and revenues staff the opportunity to understand and consider the issues presented by BRR from a joint perspective.
Business Rates Retention joint series with DCLG – this series ran in September 2012 and included presentations from Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), CIPFA and the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).
External links
DCLG Plain English Guide to BRR – published 21 November 2012
DCLG BRR Policy Statement – published 21 November 2012
DCLG 2013/14 Local Government Finance Settlement Consultation – published 21 November 2012.
There are also various CIPFA Network News articles that have been written on this subject, which you may find of interest.