The charity formed by the merger of Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK has called for a 1% increase in alcohol duties to raise £100 million each year which it says if invested in alcohol treatment 'could save the NHS and other public services around £300 million annually.' Briefing paper here [pdf].
The charity says this would equate to just 5p more for an average bottle of wine and 3p more for a pint of beer and would allow treatment budgets to be boosted by 50%. In recent years ongoing cuts to treatment budgets have resulted in a 'crisis' which is likely to be behind falling numbers of people receiving formal help. Concerns that the situation will worsen have also been raised as a new public health funding structure comes into effect in 2020.
Dr James Nicholls, Director of Research and Policy Development at the charity formed by the merger of Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK, said:
“While every year the alcohol industry makes around £8 billion from the 4% of the population who drink most heavily, cuts to alcohol treatment services are having a devastating effect across the UK. This is out of balance. We should not leave people with severe alcohol problems unsupported, nor should we leave the 200,000 children living with a dependent parent to fend for themselves. We as a society urgently need to find more money to support essential services. That will help people who drink too much and their families, but it will also save the taxpayer money by avoiding higher costs down the line that could be avoided with treatment.”
Treatment, taxation and political will
The call comes as the Government reportedly formulate a new national alcohol strategy expected next year. Alcohol groups however have repeatedly called for both further investment in alcohol treatment and increased taxation, though the latter more commonly as a pricing option to target super strength and white ciders linked to harmful drinking. In the last budget, alcohol duty was set to rise in line with inflation, effectively freezing the amount of revenue generated. It also included a consultation on white cider duty which has yet to announce its outcome though may be likely to result in a new duty band for cider under 7.5% ABV, potentially incentivising producers of high strength ciders to reduce their ABVs.
Alcohol duty rates however are both complicated and subject to ongoing lobbying, particularly in the build up to budgets. Groups such as the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) have often called for taxation to be used as one pricing lever available to deter harmful consumption, whilst others state that both taxation and minimum pricing together would lead to the greatest public health gains. Meanwhile various alcohol industry bodies such as the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) and the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) regularly campaign for cuts to alcohol duties, broadly claiming cuts would boost the economy and help consumers. However claims that cuts to beer duty would help pubs have been refuted by the IAS and others who argue that the opposite is true as falling prices further shifts the long term trend of increasing home consumption.
How likely policy makers are to go for a 'treatment levy' is uncertain. Alcohol treatment has long been considered the poor sister of substance misuse services having never had dedicated budgets and thus previously piggy-backing off national drug treatment budgets. Following the campaigning of several MPs, a £4.5 million innovation fund to support up to eight local authorities in addressing the needs of children of dependent drinkers was announced earlier this year, though some pointed out the limitations to this in the context of treatment cuts of around £105 million since 2012/13.
Karen Tyrell, Executive Director at Addaction, said a new national strategy was "a real opportunity to set out an ambitious plan to help more people and to counter the damaging effects of hazardous and harmful drinking" but "at the moment only one in five people who desperately need treatment can get it." Engaging greater numbers of dependent drinkers in alcohol services is likely to remain an important public health ambition for sometime. Many would consider a dedicated revenue stream a huge and much needed boost for the long short changed alcohol treatment sector.
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