'Outrageous' VOA errors cloud finance settlement

摘要

Whitehall officials rushed out the provisional local government finance settlement days before Christmas despite knowing the figures it was based on were wrong, The MJ has learnt. Last week, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) admitted it would have to rip up the provisional settlement after the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) updated tables on its website, blaming a 'fault in the process used to extract data'.