1st March 2017 1:00
By Blue Tutors
The levy on soft drinks obliges companies selling soft drinks with either any added sugar, or a total sugar content of over 5% (and more for over 8%), to pay the government a charge. The levy, expected to come into effect from April 2018, has been projected to raise over £500 million in its first year. These funds will then be directed towards combatting childhood obesity.
The effects of this investment in health and wellbeing will “last a lifetime” according to Education Secretary Justine Greening. Each school will be allocated funds towards access to sport, mental health support and healthy eating. While all schools will receive a share of the funding, schools will be able to bid for additional support for individual projects, such as after school programs or improved facilities. They are, however, prohibited from spending this much-needed money on staff, including PE teachers.
In the short term, this means £415 million will be directed towards the education sector in 2018-19 at a time when it is chronically underfunded, however in the longer term the revenues are likely to dwindle as manufacturers reformulate, reducing sugar content, in order to avoid the levy. While this will potentially be a strong contributor towards reducing the nation’s obesity crisis, as intended, it does mean that the gain to schools will likely be short lived.
The clear losers in this new deal, the soft drinks industry, have questioned the validity of the levy, stating that there is no definitive data to support that reducing sugar content of drinks can be used to reduce obesity levels. It also pointed out that it seems odd to penalise the industry most responsible for the 18% decrease in sugar intake over the past 5 years.