500 brewery jobs follow beer duty cuts
In total, 26,000 jobs across the sector had been created, while investment in the industry would reach £61M this year if the duty was cut for a third time, according to a new report from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).
A lot of investment had already been pumped into a number of new UK breweries, specifically smaller and microbreweries since 2013, said the CEBR.
750M extra pints
If beer duty hadn’t been cut, 750M fewer pints of beer would have been sold between 2013 and 2014, and more than 1,000 jobs in the sector would have been lost. By 2020, the sector would have had a 3,300 fewer jobs, it claimed.
“Over the course of the next Parliament – if the planned duty path continues – we forecast that employment [in the sector] in 2020 will stand at a similar level,” CEBR said.
Industry leaders had urged the chancellor to cut beer duty for the third time in a row to continue the sector’s growth.
“It’s fantastic to see that beer duty cuts have had a real impact on beer drinkers and pub goers across the country,” Tim Page, Campaign for Real Ale chief executive said.
“Reductions in beer tax have helped keep pubs open, created new jobs and kept increases in the cost of beer at a historic low.”
Pass on the cuts
Pubs should also pass the price cuts on to consumers to ensure pub-going remained an affordable activity, Page added.
Scott Corfe, head of UK macroeconomics at CEBR, said: “Our research shows that the recent beer duty cuts have provided a significant economic boost to an industry that supports thousands of jobs across the UK."
The beer duty cut has …
- Saved more than 1,000 pubs
- Boosted beer sales by 750M pints
- Created 500 brewery jobs
- Boosted employment across the sector by 26,000
- Paved the way for £61M of investment in 2015
- Reduced the price of a pint by 16p
However, Andrew Griffiths, member of Parliament and chair of the Parliamentary Beer Group, called for more action.
“There is more still to be done and I hope that the chancellor will build on the positive moves so far and make it a hat trick of beer duty cuts in the budget in March.”
Meanwhile, UK beer sales rose by 1.3% last year, ending a decade-long decline, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).
Beer sales had slumped by 24% in the nine years leading to the beer duty cut, according to the BBPA.
It was vital that another duty cut was made by the chancellor on March 18 said Brigid Simmonds, BBPA chief executive.
