UK: UK alcohol duty stalls as Treasury intake plateaus

New figures from UK’s HMRC show a steady but unremarkable stream of alcohol duty receipts, with little evidence that recent reforms have strengthened the public purse. Meanwhile, industry voices have argued that rising rates may be dampening demand, The Drinks Business reported on April 23.

Wine and spirits remain the principal contributors to alcohol duty income, though their performance appears to have softened in the latest financial year. The data arrives as the Government prepares to review its reworked duty regime.

According to HM Revenue and Customs, alcohol duty receipts have risen from £7.9 billion in 2006 to 2007 to £12.4 billion in 2025 to 2026. Over the same period, receipts as a share of GDP have edged down from 0.5% to 0.4%, as per the latest dataset published on 23 April.

The figures suggest a long view of gradual expansion in nominal terms, though without keeping pace proportionally with the wider economy. Receipts climbed to £12.1 billion in 2020 to 2021 from £11.8 billion the previous year, driven largely by stronger returns from spirits and wine.

That upward movement proved temporary, with receipts falling from £13.1 billion in 2021 to 2022 to £12.4 billion in 2022 to 2023, a shift HMRC attributes to the unwinding of pandemic-era drinking patterns, when off-trade consumption lifted duty income during lockdown periods.

From 2023 to 2024, and from 2025 to 2026, annual receipts have remained broadly unchanged, indicating a plateau following earlier volatility.

Responding to the latest figures, Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, pointed to the burden borne by wine and spirits.

“Not only do wine and spirit drinkers pay the highest rates of excise duty and contribute the lion’s share (c.70%) of all alcohol duty receipts to the public purse, they have also been hit hardest by the UK’s uniquely punitive excise duty regime,” he said.

Beale added that higher duty rates appear to coincide with weaker returns. “With every new set of data, we see clearly that increasing duty rates year-on-year reduces consumer demand and income to the Exchequer. Combined wine and spirit duties were £188m lower in 2025/26 than in 2024/25.”

He suggested that the forthcoming review of the 2023 reforms may offer a moment for reconsideration. “But there’s a chance to stop the ‘drip, drip, drop’: the Government’s recently announced evaluation of the 2023 duty provides a clear opportunity for a major re-think as part of the 2026 Autumn Budget.”

As reported by the drinks business in June 2025, HMRC data for 2024 to 2025 showed only a modest rise in receipts, increasing by £57 million to £12.646 billion. That equated to growth of just 0.5% despite the introduction of a revised tax framework earlier that year.

Wine and other fermented products brought in £4.735 billion, up 3% year on year, while spirits generated £4.164 billion, a 1% increase. Beer moved in the opposite direction, falling 3% to £3.527 billion, according to that report.

Monthly figures from the same period pointed to uneven patterns, with a February spike attributed by HMRC to stockpiling ahead of duty changes rather than any sustained uplift in demand.

Taken together, the latest release and earlier data describe a system that has reached a point of relative stability in headline terms, though without clear evidence of growing returns. Wine and spirits continue to dominate the duty take, contributing around 70% of receipts.

Whether the forthcoming policy review will alter that balance remains to be seen.

23 April, 2026