13/06/2026
☀️ 69 days of summer reduced VAT
The temporary 5% VAT rate on children’s meals, family attraction tickets, cinema and theatre admissions will last for 69 days from 25 June to 1 September 2026 - creating a summer of VAT complexity! 🤯
Families will save on zoo trips. Theme park tickets will be cheaper. Soft play just got a little less painful for the wallet. The government is calling it the Great British Summer Savings Scheme, but it is not so easy to implement...
The reduced 5% VAT rate applies to three categories of supply:
🍽️ Children’s meals served on the premises from a dedicated children’s menu only (NOTE: a smaller portion of an adult meal DOES NOT qualify. Adult diners eating at the same table, at the same establishment, on the same day, pay 20% VAT as normal)
🎟 Children’s and family tickets for cinemas, theatres, exhibitions, concerts and shows (NOTE: a standard adult ticket DOES NOT qualify)
🎫 Admission tickets - for adults and children alike - to qualifying attractions including theme parks, zoos, aquariums, soft play centres, circuses, adventure parks, museums and observation attractions (NOTE: a group ticket that is not marketed as a family ticket DOES NOT qualify)
⚽🏉 Season tickets are excluded unless they are priced the same as a standard single entry. Sports facilities are excluded entirely - even where they might reasonably be considered family leisure 🎾⛳️
‼ In practice, delivering it requires every affected business to review its VAT coding, update its point of sale systems, retrain staff, and then reverse every one of those changes on 2 September!!
⏰ What businesses should do now
If your business falls within scope, the priority is to act quickly; the relief takes effect on 25 June. Businesses should review which of their supplies qualify, update VAT codes in their systems, brief front of house and finance teams on the boundaries and document the decisions they have made.
And on 2 September, do it all again in reverse
