UK Alcohol duty frozen

UK Government leaves alcohol duty unchanged after a massive increase earlier in the year hurt government coffers.

After a near 20% increase in duty last year, the UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt decided to pause the increasing of alcohol duties in this week's budget.

Duty rose on the 1st August 2023 from £2.23 to £2.67 a bottle, for wines between 11.5-14.5% - a rise of 20% and the biggest rise in 50 years. Wines below 11.5% would see a smaller rise as a new scheme to tax duty based on the level of alcohol, was set to be introduced.

The huge rise earlier has hurt the Treasury. According to HMRC, the latest excise duty receipts showed the Treasury lost £436m between September and January for wine and spirits compared with the same period in 2022/23. Since the alcohol duty hikes in August last year, Treasury coffers are down by almost £600m for all alcohol categories.

Sales of wine were down by 10 million bottles over Christmas in 2023 compared to the year previously, according to an article in Decanter magazine this week.