Mike Benner, chief executive of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has penned a letter to Treasury Minister Robert Jenrick regarding the review of small breweries’ relief (SBR).
The letter (which can be viewed here):
- Asks the Minister to clarify that no brewer will lose any relief as a result of any reform, ruling out any cuts to SBR;
- Asks the Treasury to confirm it is considering smoothing the relief curve above 5,000hl, removing the cliff edge to growth, and encouraging investment in the sector;
- Asks the Minister to confirm that a full public consultation will follow the questionnaire issued to brewers last week;
- And welcomes the review, committing SIBA to encourage as many small brewers as possible to participate.
SIBA has also published analysis from its independent costs benchmarking survey. This is granular financial data gathered directly from British independent brewers. It compares directly to the EE report, published by the Small Brewers Duty Reform Coalition last year.
SIBA says its analysis shows that the coalition has significantly underestimated the actual costs of brewers of every size, undermining its case and strenghtening SIBA’s case for positive SBR reform.
