Roger Littlewood

Roger recently entered semi-retirement and left his position as Head of Rating, Valuation & Professional Services at Tesco plc after joining the company in October 2016. During his four years at Tesco Stores his role involved the strategic management of a £1.3 billion p.a. budget which includes £700 million annual Business Rates liability and an equivalent rent role, the largest in the UK; a portfolio of over 6,000 properties. His role at Tesco also included strategic management of the annual asset valuation (for financial regulation purposes) exercise for the entire international operational estate, valuation for Capital Gains Tax and Compulsory Purchase and Compensation, ad-hoc valuation advice to the Board and lease advisory, leading a team of 12 professionals plus support staff.

Roger has more than 40 years’ experience as a Rating and Valuation Surveyor, working in the private and public sectors dealing with a wide variety of retail, commercial and industrial property types together with highly specialised properties. These include Shops, Offices, Warehouses, Distribution Centres, Workshops, Stores, Factories, Hotels, Leisure facilities (including Sports Grounds, Clubhouses, Golf Courses, Gyms and Sports Halls), Pubs/Restaurants/Cafes, Care Homes, Data Centres, Airports/Transport Hubs, Rail Networks, Car Showrooms, etc. Notably, and uniquely, Roger has dealt with not only the highest valued single rated property in the UK (Heathrow Airport) but also the largest ratepayer in the UK by annual liability and volume, Tesco plc.

Prior to joining TSL, Roger was a Partner at Gerald Eve LLP for seven years dealing mainly with civil airports and the aviation industry and was Consultant Head of Rating and Valuation for Heathrow Airport Group. Rogers experience before moving into private practice was largely within the retail banking industry latterly as Group Head of Valuation and Professional Services for HBOS plc/Lloyds Banking Group, where he was responsible for the group’s rating and taxation liability, operational asset valuations and lease advisory services for a portfolio of over 3,000 properties. His areas of expertise include all aspects of rating and property taxation (including BID’s), asset valuations, lease consultancy, compulsory purchase and compensation and service charges. Roger commenced his career within the property profession at the Valuation Office Agency following a brief stint as a Geography and PE teacher straight out of university.

Specific experience 

Roger has over 40 years within the Business Rates arena with the last 19 years engaged within strategically influential roles for Tesco Stores Ltd, Heathrow Airport Group, Lloyds Banking Group plc and HBOS plc. His experience operating within both corporate client-side roles and private-sector advisory roles has enabled him to amass a detailed knowledge of the Business Rates system in particular and within which he is recognised as a leading figure having been engaged in an advisory capacity to Government policy consultations, reviews and steering groups, etc. During that time he has handled annual budgets approaching £1.3 billion whilst representing major organisations in relation to their strategic interests. He is the current Chairman of the BRC Business Rates and Local Engagement Policy Panel, a member of the CBI Local Taxation Policy Group, a member of the Rating Surveyors Association Executive Committee, a member of the RICS Rating and Local Taxation Policy Committee and RICS APC Panel Chairman/Assessor.

During his career he:

  • represented Tesco plc in relation to the Treasury Select Committee consultation on Business Rates (2019/20).
  • provided input to the Tesco and RSA responses to the recent HMT Fundamental Review of Business Rates (2020).
  • provided advice to Tesco and participated in the recent (2020) decision of the Supreme Court (Cardtronics UK Ltd and others (Respondents) v Sykes and Others (Valuation Officers)(Appellants)) (UKSC 2018/0225) in relation to the rating of sites of Automated Teller Machines (ATM’s) at Supermarkets.
  • represented the banking industry within MHCLG on local taxation and worked on numerous reviews (e.g. Sir Michael Lyons review) and also within the CBI, National & Scottish Ratepayers Forums, RICS, IRRV and Rating Surveyors Association.
  • founded the Inter-Bank Rating Forum (IBRF) in 2000 as the “mouthpiece” for the banking industry on business rates and was, latterly, Vice-Chairman of the IBRF.
  • led innovative initiative between multi-site occupiers and the Valuation Office Agency and Scottish Assessors Association subsequently rolled out to FTSE 100 companies, among others, which created the VOA and Scottish Ratepayer Contact schemes for the 2005, 2010 and 2017 National Revaluations.
  • designed specification for specialist rating software system for 2000 and 2005 Revaluations.
  • was a founding Director of Essential Edinburgh Ltd. Business Improvement District (BID), and was instrumental in the creation of the first and most successful BID in Scotland. He also sat on the BIDs Advisory Board and British BIDs Accreditation Panel.
  • represented the civil aviation industry on Government consultations in business rates

Rogers other activities include membership of the HMRC/VOA Framework Review Steering Group, the CBI Rating and Valuation Panel, the VOA Performance Awards Panel, the Scottish Assessors Web Portal Steering Group, and the RICS Rating and Local Taxation Policy panel.

Roger has been a guest speaker with several property training organisations, RICS, IRRV and British BIDs conferences and speaker at VOA Management training seminars. He currently chairs RICS APC & ATC assessment panels and the BRC Business Rates Project Group.