Promoting and enhancing best practice and technical expertise

The 26th National Rating Day

The National Rating Day has become a major fixture in the Rating calendar. It is the largest gathering of rating practitioners year on year; and is a must attend event if you work within the profession. This hybrid event looks at the here and now, policy and reform and best and effective practice. Speakers represent the private sector, the Valuation Office and the Valuation Tribunal Service.

Start Date Venue Price  
3 June 2026 One Great George Street, London £310 BOOK
3 June 2026 Virtual Conference Attendance £310 BOOK

Note: All prices are to be paid in GBP and are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate

Event duration: Full Day Event (5.30 hours CPD).
Registration from: 09.00. Virtual Registration Time: 9.30. Event starts at: 09.35. Event finishes at: 17.00.

The 2026 Rating List goes live on 1 April - but in terms of change, this is only the beginning. The assumption of a post-revaluation lull will prove dangerously misplaced. This year’s National Rating Day confronts the reality practitioners now face:

Navigate Dual-List Strategy Handling Checks and Challenges in the 2023 and 2026 Lists

  • Dual-list pressures, unresolved 2023 appeals, and the need to establish the tone of the List whilst also submitting 2026 list checks and challenges.

Understand Policy Divergence and It's Commercial Implications

  • Different reliefs, multipliers and anti-avoidance rules raise a critical question:
    • Is the UK still a single rating market - or three separate systems? 
    • Do they now compete for ratepayer patronage in where businesses choose to locate and invest?
  • Is divergence creating opportunities - or exposing unintended consequences?

HM Treasury Reform: What will it Actually Deliver?

  • The direction of travel is clear - but what will reform look like in practice?

Artificial Intelligence in the Rating Framework

  • AI is beginning to reshape the rating landscape. How so?
  • Additionally, the VO’s enhanced technology and data capabilities, combined with emerging tools in private practice, could fundamentally alter how valuations are established and challenged. What skills will the rating surveyor of the future need?

Case Law: The Engine of Change

  • Rating practice continues to stress test legislation/regulation - and the courts respond.
  • Tribunal and judicial decisions shape future opportunity, risk, and strategy. 

As the largest annual gathering of rating professionals, National Rating Day brings together valuers, ratepayer advisers, the VO, and the judiciary. It provides not just insight - but practical, actionable intelligence from across the profession.

If you advise on rating, represent ratepayers, or influence strategy - this is the one event you cannot afford to miss.

Speakers Confirmed to Date

Programme

Westminster Rating Policy Update


Rating Policy - A Post-Election Landscape: A Discussion 

  • The UK general election took place in 2024. Welsh and Scottish elections have their elections in May 2026. The January 2026 Scottish budget demonstrated divergence from Westminster norms. Will elections drive more divergence?
  • Devolution in practice: policy leadership, policy drift, or policy competition?
  • Are 3 sets of positions on reliefs, multipliers and future reforms cohering - or producing unintended distortions? What of GAAR?
Impact of Rating Policy Divergence on Property Strategies 
  • With home nations in control of their own policies and having their on levers on reliefs, multipliers, regulations, do businesses follow the best deal when it comes to location, location, location?
  • What do the sums yield? Using hypothetical businesses, lets compare and contrast, using equivalent RVs in different home nations - where do the numbers take us?
  • Are the savvy businesses already doing this?
  • What are the downsides for following this approach for ratepayers?

Business Rates and Investment: Call for Evidence Consultation 

(HM Treasury – Call for Evidence published 26 November 2025)

  • Its 2 principle tenants; how business rates influence and stifle investment decisions; and what reforms aid business strategies?
  • We may or may not have had a formal response by HMT, but lets hear what businesses want

The Life Cycle of the Rating List

  • What happens to the RV “pot” during the life of a List?
  • Patterns for 2017/2023
  • RV losses
  • Circumstances in which the pot can grow mid-list
  • Appeal drivers

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Rating

  • The future is here, but what does it mean in practice?
  • Ratepayers doing it themselves v the added value of having a rating advisor
  • What is the potential for rogue actors and how to guard against it? 
  • Does the VO computer make use of it, or adopt similar AI principles?
  • Valuation requires human judgment; RICS Guidance suggests a ‘human in the loop’. How can organisations use AI responsibly? 
  • How does the RICS Professional Statement moderate organisational and member behaviour? 
  • Could AI create and code in bias and how is this avoided? 
  • What is allowed in the management of disputes and what does the VT and UT practice directions say on this?
  • How will its role evolve?
  • The dos, dont's and risks 

Is the 2023 List Dead? Transitioning into 2026

  • What can still be done?
  • Volumes?
  • Impacts on 2026 List
  • Dual list discussions
  • Back-Dating RV Increases

HMRC VO - What has Changed?

  • What’s changed, what has stayed the same and what’s better?
  • How does private practice engage and with what expectations?

Valuation in Practice – High Value Council Tax Surcharge Assessments

  • VO methodology; a new system outside the Council tax and NDR regimes
  • Challenging assessments – how will it be done?
  • Capital value impacts and mitigation strategies
  • Billing complexity

Case Law Update