Consultation on reform of Landfill Tax

From:: HM Treasury
Published: 28 April 2025
Last updated: 26 November 2025 — See all updates

Read the full outcome

Consultation on Reform of Landfill Tax in England and Northern Ireland: Summary of responses

PDF, 347 KB, 29 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email digital.communications@hmtreasury.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Detail of outcome

On 28 April 2025, the government published a consultation entitled ‘Consultation on reform of Landfill Tax’. The consultation ran for 12 weeks setting out proposals for reform of the tax and received over 350 responses from a variety of stakeholders. A full summary of responses and the government response is available here.

The government response confirms that it will not proceed with transitioning to a single rate of tax by 2030. The government will also retain the exemption for quarries with disposal permits. The summary of responses sets out the government’s decisions on all the proposals included in the consultation.

Original consultation

Summary

The government has published a consultation on reform of Landfill Tax. The consultation seeks views proposals aimed at supporting the government’s ambition to transition to a more circular economy, simplifying the tax and reducing opportunities for error and non-compliance, and cracking down on waste crime.

This consultation ran from
2pm on 28 April 2025 to 11:59pm on 21 July 2025

Consultation description

The consultation seeks views on proposals to reform the tax, including:

Transitioning to a single rate of Landfill Tax by 2030
Removing the Qualifying Fines Regime from April 2027
Removing the exemption for filling quarries from 2027
Removing the exemption for stabilisers used in dredged material from April 2027
Removing the water discounting scheme from April 2027
Increasing the rate applied to disposals at unauthorised waste sites

The consultation follows on from a call for evidence on reform of Landfill Tax in England and Northern Ireland by the previous government in in November 2021 and the government response in March 2023. Responses to the 2021 call for evidence highlighted that the current approach of applying Landfill Tax rates based on material type is outdated and does not fully align with modern waste processes.

This consultation will open on 28 April 2025 and will close on 21 July 2025. Responses should be provided to the response form (preferred) or by email: LfTpolicy@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Documents