‘Tax break tart’: hospitality tipped to exploit summer VAT cut on children’s meals

Restaurants and pubs are expected to devise “enterprising” schemes to exploit a tax break on meals for under-18s, after one venue launched a menu for “kids” featuring wild burgundy snail salad and anchovy butter toast. Rachel Reeves last month announced a temporary cut in VAT on children’s meals from 20% to 5% between 25 June and 1 September, part of a “Great British summer savings scheme ” to support struggling venues and ease pressure on families. The chancellor highlighted the scheme during an appearance by video at last week’s UK Hospitality trade conference that met with a muted reception. Afterwards, leading figures in the sector added their voices to a chorus of ridicule for the “laughable” scheme, contrasting it with the £5bn in extra costs loaded on to pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants since Labour returned to power in 2024. Chris Jowsey, the chief executive of the 1,300-strong pubs chain Admiral Taverns, called the scheme a “joke”, adding that the resulting discount was “so small it’s embarrassing” and that it would not help pubs that do not serve food. He likened the VAT discount to the Covid restrictions affecting pubs, which at one stage effectively allowed venues to serve alcohol as long as it came with a scotch egg . “I suspect you’ll get some enterprising interpretations of children’s menus,” he said. …