UKH opposes possibility of late night levy extension
After a Home Office consultation, UKH condemned the possibility of the levy’s extension on the basis that it’s outdated and proposes its abolishment instead
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UKHospitality has stated its significant opposition to any extension to the late night levy and reiterated the need to abolish it.
In response to a Home Office consultation on extending the levy to apply to late night refreshment providers, UKHospitality highlighted that the entire consultation is based on an impact assessment and proposals from 2016, which is now “considerably out of date given the significant changes to the late night economy in that time”.
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “The suggestion to extend the late night levy is frankly absurd. The entire notion of the levy has already been discredited by a House of Lords committee, who described it as unsuccessful, and it continues to take away hard-earned money from strapped venues.”
The late night levy was initially created by the Licensing Act 2003 as a tax that night refreshment providers have to pay when profiting from the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6am.
The levy was introduced on the assumption that these sales could contribute to crime, disorder and disturbance and as such, the levy gets collected as a fund towards policing and other costs associated with the management of the night time economy.
In 2017, the House of Lords had already stated that the correlation between the night time economy and the cost policing can be very difficult to identify and makes many businesses believe that “the levy is serving as a form of additional general taxation, and is not being put towards its intended purpose”.
Nicholls continued: “Given the proposals to extend the levy were made seven years ago and since then we have had a global pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and record inflation, there should be no serious consideration given to an extension.
“In areas where the levy is in place, it takes thousands of pounds out of the pockets of hospitality businesses, and that is money that could have been used to reinvest, open new ventures or hire more staff. If the Government wants to demonstrate it’s on the side of business and economic growth, it should choose not to extend the levy and abolish it instead.”
