Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the increased excise duty rates for ciders above 4.6 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) on breweries that produce cider above 4.6 per cent ABV in relation to (a) the need to change recipes, labels and point of sale materials and (b) the costs involved to change to 4.8 per cent ABV; and if he will make it his policy not to increase excise duty on ciders below 5.6 per cent ABV.

At Autumn Budget 2021, the Chancellor announced a number of reforms to modernise and improve the tax system for cider from February 2023.

As part of this, the Government intends to move to a taxation system which taxes cider on the basis of its alcohol content. This will result in higher strength ciders – which are currently undertaxed – paying duty in proportion to strength. The Treasury considers the impact this will have on business decision-making difficult to estimate, as different businesses will have different business models. We will continue to engage with industry as our review progresses and value feedback on this point.

Regarding flavoured ciders, the Government has decided to keep the existing cider category and its substantially lower rate to remain focused on traditional cider, recognising the part cider producers play in local economies and the cultural value attached to cider. Therefore, there are no plans to equalise flavoured and non-flavoured cider duty rates at this stage.

Further detail about the impact of our alcohol duty reforms on cidermakers, including breweries that produce cider, will be included in a tax information and impact note when the policy is final, or near final, in the usual way.