The Government recently announced a review of Small Brewers’ Relief (SBR). This is a scheme which allows small breweries, producing less than 5,000HL a year, to pay a lower rate of duty (50%). SBR has been instrumental in helping many small breweries to establish, compete and flourish. The announcement has already proposed the reduction of the SBR threshold to 2,100HL. This will result in large increases in costs for many breweries, many of them familiar names.
In a letter to Kemi Badenoch MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, CAMRA joined calls for the Government to rethink its plans to remove SBR from the smallest brewers to allow larger brewers to pay less, and to publish more information about any other proposed changes as soon as possible.
You can help support small brewers by signing the petition to reverse the change at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/334066