Nearly 90% of people appealing against their business rate levels are unhappy with the Valuation Office Agency's new appeals system.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request, the agency confirmed a survey of nearly 850 users had found that 72% were ‘very dissatisfied' and 17% ‘dissatisfied' with the new service. The new system was introduced to address a massive backlog of appeals: some 300,000 lodged under the old system remain unresolved.