The scheme has been described as a “massive benefit” for attractions but restaurants might not see much difference.
The UK Government has announced that VAT on certain family activities and children’s menus in restaurants will be cut for the summer. The Great British Summer Savings scheme will see VAT will be cut from 20% to 5% to encourage families get out in the holidays and ease costs for businesses.
David Woricker, who owns the South Angle Farm Park in Soham, has said the new scheme is “extremely welcomed”. He said: “We’ve been arguing, as almost all of the hospitality industry has, for a long time to reduce VAT because it is an unfair tax. It’s a 20% tax on all of our income so any reduction, even for any period of time, is a massive benefit and is being extremely welcomed by everybody.”
Mr Woricker hopes the Great Summer Savings scheme will encourage more families to take day trips and increase the number of people visiting the farm park. He added: “If we offer a special or reduced price, hopefully numbers will increase.
“I think a lot of it is going to be down to confidence. People having more confidence in going on days out and that the government is there to help families have enough disposable income to enjoy them.
“It is also a way to make money for us if we get more people through the door because of it. We definitely have been seeing a steady drop over the last few years in the frequency of people coming to the farm park. I think if we can get visitors up then we’ll see some real benefit from it.”
Rebecca Willers, the director of the Shepreth Wildlife Park, also hopes the scheme will bring increased footfall to her businesses. She said: “I think it’s kind of a win for everybody.
“The scheme wants to increase footfall for attractions and obviously get people out and about saving them a bit of money on admissions. We’re in a situation where it’s absolutely super to have such an initiative that will hopefully encourage people to want to get out.”
She continued: “Also it’s quite good that it raises awareness because I’m not sure everyone realises when they pay their entrance fee into the wildlife park, 20% of that goes straight back to the government in VAT. There’s two different types of zoos.
“There are zoos like us that pay VAT and zoos that are operated by charities and of course, they may be VAT exempt. So it’s good for visitors to know which zoos will be offering the discount.”
Ms Willers added that the scheme might not “make too much of a difference” if the weather is not good throughout the summer. She said: “But the only thing being an outside attraction is the fact that if it rains all of August or if we’ve got extreme heat of 35 degrees, then I don’t think it will probably make too much of a difference because people just aren’t going to come out regardless if the extreme weather happens as we saw on Monday.”
Luke Taylor, the director of Limoncello in Cambridge, has said the scheme “doesn’t really do much” for his restaurant. He said: “A lot of children’s menus are just there to feed the children.
“Restaurants are not going to be profiting off them. Most restaurants will price it lower just so we can feed the children so the VAT cut doesn’t really do much for restaurants because they’re already losing on children’s menus.”
He added the cuts won’t “make a dent” in family finances, as a 15% drop on children’s food would not amount to much money compared to the rest of the bill. However, Mr Taylor hopes the scheme shows the government is “willing to change the VAT threshold” in the future.
He continued: “I think there’s enough voices shouting quite loudly on social media. There’s Michelin star chefs saying, ‘look, our businesses aren’t doing as well as they used to’. Costs are disproportionately higher than they once were. Traditional ways that restaurants made money is changing. We need help.
“So this is a step in the right direction. I’d like to think they are testing whether to see if it does do anything for us. But I think I would like to see a permanent 10% reduction in VAT and it doesn’t sound like a lot but it would save the industry from inflationary pressures that are currently happening.”
Mr Woricker also agrees that a long-term reduction in VAT would “make a huge difference” to the hospitality industry. He said: “Not only does it allow more affordable days out we can all enjoy, but the hospitality sector is the biggest employer of young people.
“I have to think very carefully about what staff I take on and the hours I have available. I have to try and run an extremely tight ship, not through greed, but just through survival. If we didn’t run things incredibly efficiently, we wouldn’t be here because there’s so little profit margins available in our industry.”
The scheme will be applied to attractions such as zoos, adventure centres, and theme parks, as well as reducing the cost of children’s meals in restaurants. It will be in place from June 25 to September 1. Children between the ages of five and 15 in England will also be able to travel on local bus services for free in August.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login