Corporate report

Valuation Office Agency charter (English)

Updated 22 April 2021

Working together to shape your customer service experience

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is the public sector’s property valuation expert and adviser. We provide the valuations and advice needed to support local and national taxation and benefits, and assist other public bodies. Our work underpins the funding and function of vital public services. These commitments explain how we’ll work with you to deliver a professional and expert customer service experience.

Our customer charter

Reliability

We’re responsible for producing trusted property valuations. This helps local councils to correctly calculate the amount of tax you pay or apply the right amount of relief or benefit, and supports HMRC and other public bodies in the delivery of their functions.

We may request information from you to keep our records up to date. We rely on you to make sure the information we hold about your property and your rental details is correct. We’ll help you to provide the right information, and can take action against those who deliberately don’t.

Responsiveness

When you contact us, we will fully answer your questions as quickly as we can, or direct you to the right place to find an answer.

We’ll help you to update information we hold about your property. We will communicate all decisions, explain our reasoning and what happens next.

You can help us by responding promptly to any requests for information.

Working with you

We will ensure you are treated fairly and receive the support you need. We are committed to ensuring our services are accessible for all our customers.

You can appoint someone to work with us on your behalf, such as an agent or relative. We’ll only deal with them if you have authorised them to represent you. Please help us by making sure the information they give us is accurate.

Your rights

We’ll explain our decisions to you clearly. We’ll help you understand your rights and the options available to you.

Respect

We’ll treat you fairly, with courtesy and respect. We ask that you treat our employees in the same way. We won’t tolerate any unacceptable behaviour, and will take action against threats, harassment and bullying.

Data security

We’ll protect the information we hold about you or your property and treat it as private and confidential. We’ll only share that information, fairly and lawfully, when there is a need.

Your feedback

These commitments outline the customer service we want you to experience. If you have comments or suggestions, we’ll listen to your feedback and learn. If you wish to make a complaint, we’ll deal with it fairly and as quickly as we can.