Policy paper

Changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy

This measure changes the Soft Drinks Industry Levy sugar content threshold and removes exemptions for milk-based and milk substitute drinks from 1 January 2028. From 1 April 2027, it also removes the requirement for producers to register if they do not package or import liable soft drinks.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 13 July 2026
• Last updated: 28 October 2026 — See all updates

Documents

Soft Drink Industry Levy changes

HTML

Draft legislation

PDF, 195 KB, 5 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 different.format@hmrc.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Draft legislation (accessible version)

HTML

Changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy — policy paper

HTML

Explanatory note

ODT, 13.4 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

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 different.format@hmrc.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

This measure:

• reduces the Soft Drinks Industry Levy sugar content threshold from 5g to 4.5g per 100ml
• removes the exemption for milk-based and milk-substitute drinks
• removes the requirement for businesses producing more than 1 million litres of liable soft drinks a year to register for the levy, unless they are packagers or importers

• Last updated: 28 October 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 28 October 2026

     Information added that from 1 April 2027, businesses producing more than 1 million litres of liable soft drinks a year will no longer need to register for the levy unless they package or import those drinks. The exchequer impact table has been updated for Budget 2026.

  2. 13 July 2026

     First published.