How much the cost of buying alcohol is increasing from Saturday
One trade body has said 'there are no winners' with the price rises. But what do they entail?
Consumers will see the price of alcohol rise from Saturday (the day that marks the end of dry January) when a hike in tax and duties comes into effect.
The alcohol tax itself will rise in line with the Retail Price Index at 3.6%, but a new system to tax wines and spirits based on strength will be introduced at the same time.
The changes to excise duty and taxing wine according to strength came into effect in August 2023 but the previous government introduced a temporary reprieve for wines with a strength between 11.5% and 14.5%, taxed at a flat rate of 12.5%.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) said of the upcoming changes: "There are no winners under the UK’s punishing alcohol tax regime – higher duty rates mean people buy less which results in reduced income to the Exchequer, businesses are being squeezed and consumers have to pay more.” Others have said the changes will help reduce the health impact on the NHS.
How much are alcohol prices going up?
The changes can be seen in the interactive graphic, below.
Wine at 14.5% ABV (alcohol by volume), for example, will increase by 54p. The duty on a bottle of gin will rise by 32p.
However, duty on draught products - beer poured in pubs - will be cut by 1.7%, meaning a penny off a pint in the pub. This was announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in last year's budget.
How much alcohol does the UK consume?
According to Our World in Data, alcohol consumption in the UK has gradually decreased.
Estimated annual consumption of pure alcohol per person aged 15 or older was 12.28 litres in 2000. By 2020, this had dropped to 10.73 litres.
This downward trend is also captured by Statista, which has forecasted consumption of alcoholic drinks to fall to 80.92 litres in 2029, from 106.07 litres in 2019.
One survey, as reported by The Times this week, has suggested nearly half of young people, as well as one in three middle-aged people, no longer drink alcohol.
How much has the price of alcohol increased over time?
The below graphic, also by Statista, captures how alcohol increased in price between 2017 and last year. It is presented using consumer price index (CPI), which measures changes in the price of things consumers buy.
Meanwhile, the WSTA, ahead of Saturday's price rises, has calculated a 14.5% ABV bottle of red wine will have risen by 98p in 18 months, taking into account new duty hikes introduced in August 2023.
It also warned of further costs in April due to waste packaging recycling fees coming into effect, adding an additional cost of 12p for a bottle of wine and 18p for a bottle of spirits.
Will England get minimum alcohol pricing?
After Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister last year, he said he was ready to take "bold and controversial" measures to improve the nation's health, with the government already bringing in a ban on junk food ads.
In September, a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research said health challenges facing the nation had reached “historic proportions”.
The commission behind the report was co-chaired by Lord Darzi and England’s former chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies. As part of their recommendations, the report called for more tax for so-called “health polluters” - including alcohol - to raise money which could fund new health schemes.
England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty along with Department of Health officials, were said to be making the case for the measure, the Times reported in September last year.
In December, the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) called for urgent action from Labour to redress an “alarming trend” in the "catastrophic" rise in deaths caused by drinking.
The Alliance – which is made up of medical royal colleges, charities, treatment providers and academics – highlights how deaths caused “solely by alcohol have increased by a catastrophic 42% since 2019”.
The groups praised health officials in Scotland for the “life-saving” minimum unit pricing (MUP) scheme but said that “inaction across the border has led English deaths to spiral”.
In March 2020, the previous UK government said there were “no plans for the introduction of MUP in England” although it would continue to monitor the progress of the initiative in Scotland.
In October last year, when asked whether the current government had any plans to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol, home office minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “We are continuing to work closely across government to better understand what can be done to address the drivers of alcohol-related harms.”
