NNDR Business Rates FOIs Requests

Once a quarter, Tamworth Borough Council will publish the following Business rate information in a spreadsheet. Use the link below to download the latest available file.

(File Contains: Property Reference, Account Holder (where holder is a business organisation and not an individual), Address, Property Description Code, Property Description, Rateable Value, and Liable from date.)

The following business rates data has been deemed exempt and will not be published nor released as part of a Freedom Of Information request.

  • Credit balances
  • Rates account details such as discounts, reliefs & exemptions
  • Net rates payable
  • Whether hereditaments are occupied

The council argues that disclosure of the information withheld under section 31(1)(a) would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime. It is believed that releasing this information would allow potential fraudsters to use it to open a number of avenues to seek to obtain funds fraudulently.  Section 31(1)(a) Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA), states that: “Information which is not exempt under Section 30 is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice (a) the prevention or detection of crime.“

Our reasons for relying on this exemption are as follows:

  • Businesses are recognised as vulnerable to fraud in a number of ways with potential fraud losses both to a business itself, or to other parties who deal it such as creditors, suppliers, or customers. Examples of frauds where legitimate business information is misused include payment diversion, submission of falsified invoices, or targeting an identified business to build trust and then manipulate the business for fraudulent purposes. Other examples of fraud such as distribution fraud to overseas traders are also possible but rare.
  • The Council’s view is that the information requested could be used to enable fraud. The risk of fraud with this type of data is a known issue that remains a long term risk and therefore, the Council considers that the prejudice being claimed through the use of this exemption is ‘real, actual or of substance’ i.e. it is not trivial and there is a causal link between disclosure and the prejudice claimed.
  • The release of this information would make it much easier for a fraudster to pose as a ratepayer and bypass the Council’s security systems, and that changing those systems to countermand the release of such information would entail significant time and expense. Further that it would facilitate a fraudster posing as the Council to obtain confidential information from a ratepayer. There is evidence that rates fraud is a real and current problem. The consequences to the Council of a loss of a significant sum of public money are serious. We therefore give this prejudice very significant weight in the balance.
  • Councils use confidential business rates information, with appropriate agreements and safeguards in place, as a form of validation when dealing with businesses locally. In particular, validation against business rates data when processing grants to local businesses is an important aspect of fraud prevention. The Council routinely receives information about business impersonation fraud where an individual fraudulently pretends to represent a business occupying a given premises.  The attempted frauds can take a number of different formats which, if successful, could result in loss to the business or loss to the public purse.

There have been a number of relevant decision notices issued by the Information Commissioners Office surrounding the publication of business rates data. Please see links below: