Consultation outcome

Small Brewers Relief (SBR): technical consultation

• From: HM Treasury
• Published: 7 January 2021
• Last updated: 30 November 2021 — See all updates

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Small Brewers Relief: Technical Consultation Response

Ref: ISBN 978-1-911686-49-1, 3177

PDF, 383 KB, 34 pages

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Detail of outcome

At Budget 2018, the government announced it would review SBR following feedback from brewers that it was limiting growth and distorting the market.

To inform the review, a survey of brewers was conducted from January to March 2019. In July last year the government announced that, based on its findings of the review, it intended to reform SBR. A technical consultation seeking feedback from brewers on the detail of the reform ran from January to April 2021.

This document summarises the 90 responses received to the technical consultation and presents the government’s response to the specific questions raised. The main proposals are:

• Replacing the existing taper with a more gradual one, starting at 2,500hL production
• Providing a 3-year grace period for breweries that merge so that the relief phases down rather than potentially ending overnight
• Linking SBR to the alcohol content of the beer, and extending it to beers below 2.9% alcohol by volume (abv)

At Autumn Budget 2021, the government announced as part of its Alcohol Duty Review that it would introduce a new Small Producer Relief that would supersede SBR. The government encourages brewers and other stakeholders to respond to the ongoing consultation on the new Small Producer Relief, which forms part of that wider review of alcohol duty.

The consultation will close on 30 January 2022.

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Original consultation

Summary

This technical consultation sets out in further detail the Treasury’s findings from the first stage of the review of Small Brewers Relief (SBR) and explores the technical issues associated with reforming SBR.

This consultation ran from
10am on 7 January 2021 to 11:59pm on 4 April 2021

Consultation description

Small Brewers Relief (SBR) is a tax relief which gives small brewers reduced rates of beer duty. At Budget 2018, the Government announced it would review the relief following feedback from brewers that it was limiting growth and distorting the market.

In July last year, the government announced its findings from the first stage of the review. Since this announcement, the Treasury has received submissions and engaged with a wide range of brewing groups to understand their views about reforming the relief.

This technical consultation sets out in further detail how and why the government has reached its conclusions on the first part of the review, and explores key issues associated with reforming SBR.

This consultation is linked to the Review of Small Brewer’s Relief.

Documents

Small Brewers Relief: Technical consultation

PDF, 1.6 MB, 78 pages

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Small Brewers Relief: technical consultation response template

MS Word Document, 39.4 KB

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Published 7 January 2021
Last updated 30 November 2021 + show all updates

1. 30 November 2021

   Added the consultation response.

2. 7 January 2021

   First published.