Families heading to theme parks, zoos and museums this summer will pay less VAT from Thursday — but many say the saving is too small to ease the cost-of-living crunch.
The temporary cut, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, reduces the tax on attractions and children’s meals from 20% to 5% from 25 June to 1 September, timed to cover the school holidays across the UK.
“Temporary VAT cut from 20% to 5% on attractions and kids' meals starts, but critics call savings negligible.”
But Alan, 42, from Brighton, who visits theme parks with his family regularly, said he does not expect much. “These kind of attractions are quite expensive in the first place,” he told the BBC, adding that any saving passed on would be “negligible” and only benefit one-off visitors. His family uses a theme park pass for Legoland, Chessington World of Adventure and Sea Life centres.
The Chancellor said the summer holidays “can be quite expensive” and the cut was designed to “help people make those precious memories during the summer holidays, but not having to fork out too much for it.” She pointed to other measures including freezing prescription charges, freezing rail fares and providing energy bill relief.
Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, estimated the measure would mean an “average saving of around £10 per UK household.”
Alan questioned how the government could claim any meaningful household saving. “How the government can say this is going to result in any household saving is a mystery,” he said. He added that addressing energy and fuel costs would be more useful.
Rob Parkinson, chief executive of the Family Holiday Charity, said the government, industry and voluntary sector needed to “work together to identify and implement an enduring solution” for families.
The VAT reduction applies to children’s meals in restaurants, and kids’ and family tickets for cinemas, theatres, concerts, shows, exhibitions, adventure parks, nature reserves and wildlife parks. The government also announced unlimited free bus travel for children in England in August.