Policy paper

Tobacco and Vapes Bill: smokefree generation factsheet

Published 20 March 2024

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will create the first ever smokefree generation by:

• making it an offence to sell tobacco products to those born on or after 1 January 2009, thereby phasing out the sale of tobacco products while not stopping anyone who currently legally smokes from being able to do so. This will mean anyone who turns 15 or younger in 2024 will never legally be sold tobacco products
• amending existing legislation to make it an offence for anyone over 18 to purchase tobacco products on behalf of those born on or after the 1 January 2009 (proxy purchasing)
• supporting the enforcement of the new measures by requiring retailers to update the current age of sale notices (or warning notices), so that any retailer that sells tobacco will need to state clearly that ‘It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009’

Reason for intervention

Smoking tobacco is the single leading cause of preventable illness and death in England and has a significant impact on a person’s health throughout their life. In the UK around 80,000 deaths are attributed to smoking every year.

Tobacco significantly increases the risk of cancer, respiratory diseases, dementia and poor pregnancy-associated health outcomes. No other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its long-term users when used as intended. Those who start smoking young lose an average of 10 years of their life expectancy.  

Smoking tobacco is also a significant risk for poor pregnancy-associated health outcomes. Women who smoked during pregnancy were 2.6 times more likely to give birth prematurely. Smoking increases the risk of birth defects which can result in poorer health outcomes later in life.

Smoking places a significant cost on society of over £17 billion a year. This is equivalent to 6.9 pence in every £1 of income tax received.

Smoking also places a huge burden on the NHS, almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital with a smoking-related illness. Smoking tobacco increases multimorbidity (many diseases at once) and can cause particularly complex disease states, requiring multiple hospital and GP visits. It is estimated that tobacco is responsible for up to 75,000 GP appointments each month - equivalent to over 100 appointments every hour.

Most tobacco smokers want to quit but struggle to. The great majority of smokers start at a young age, with more than 4 in 5 starting before the age of 20. Starting smoking at an earlier age can result in higher levels of nicotine dependence which makes it harder to quit.

Products in scope

All tobacco products are in scope of the age of sale restriction changes, meaning that a product consisting wholly or partly of tobacco and intended to be smoked, sniffed, sucked, chewed or consumed in any other way, will be caught. Herbal smoking products and cigarette papers are also in scope. This broadly mirrors the existing age of sale legislation. 

This means that products in scope include:

• cigarettes
• hand rolled tobacco
• cigars
• cigarillos
• pipe tobacco
• waterpipe tobacco products (for example shisha)
• chewing tobacco
• heated tobacco
• nasal tobacco
• herbal smoking products
• cigarette papers

While different tobacco products will contain different levels of tobacco, there is no safe level of tobacco consumption. All tobacco products are harmful.

Herbal smoking products are included because they contain cancer-causing chemicals, tar and carbon monoxide similar to a tobacco cigarette.

Extent of measures

The legislation will apply UK-wide, building on the existing legislative frameworks.

The UK government has worked with the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive on the development of the bill. The extent of the measures varies across the UK.

Aren’t smoking rates already going down?

Smoking is still the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health. Introducing a smokefree generation could avoid up to 470,000 causes of strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other lung diseases by 2100 in England, greatly reducing the burden on the NHS.

Over the last 30 years governments have taken decisive action to reduce smoking rates, saving thousands of lives as a result. However, an independent review in 2022 found that, if we do not act, nearly half a million more people will die from smoking by 2030.

We therefore must not be complacent. While youth smoking is reducing, rates in older teens remain high - over 12% of 16- to 17-year-olds smoke in England. And some countries are seeing an increase in smoking rates. In 2020, the USA saw the first increase in tobacco sales in 20 years and in Australia in 2022, the proportion of teenagers smoking increased for the first time in 25 years.    

To do this, the government is creating the first smokefree generation, by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 15 this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products. The legislation will come into effect from 1 January 2027. This will prevent future generations from ever taking up smoking, as there is no safe age to smoke.

Current smokers

Current smokers who are legally allowed to be sold tobacco products will not be affected by the new legislation and will still be able to be sold tobacco products once the bill becomes law. Only children who were born on or after 1 January 2009 will be affected by the new legislation, when it comes into force from 1 January 2027.

Additional support for smokers

Quitting smoking is the best thing a smoker can do for their health. It has been estimated that someone who quits before turning 30 could add 10 years to their life. So, alongside taking bold action to stop the start, the government is also taking new action to support current smokers to quit - building on the existing infrastructure of funding and support we have in place through the NHS and local authorities across England.

We have announced significant new funding to support current smokers to quit by nearly doubling funding of local ‘stop smoking services’ (to around £138 million per year), including up to £45 million over 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 in the ‘Swap to Stop’ scheme, which will support up to one million adult smokers to swap to vapes.

We are also investing in a new incentives programme to support pregnant women and their partners to quit smoking and are providing an extra £5 million this financial year and £15 million a year thereafter to fund anti-smoking campaigns.  

This builds on the existing infrastructure of funding and support we already have in place through the NHS and local authorities.

Why not just raise the age of sale to 21?

There is no safe age to smoke. The government wants to continue the downward trajectory and get smoking rates close to 0%. To achieve this we need to stop people from starting, so it is logical to progressively raise the age of sale.

Financial costs

The impact assessment evidences the strong economic case for creating a smokefree generation. Benefits are expected in terms of reduced burden on the NHS and social care, increased productivity, reduced fire costs and monetised health benefits and total £20.5 billion for the UK over the 30-year appraisal period.

This significantly outweighs costs to the economy as a result of loss in profits for tobacco retailers and wholesalers, increased costs to retailers to check people’s age, familiarise themselves with the new regulations and install new signage in shops.

The net present value (the benefits minus the costs) for the bill is estimated as £18.6 billion over the 30-year appraisal period.

Implementation

Subject to approval from Parliament, the smokefree generation policy will come into force on 1 January 2027, when those born on 1 January 2009 turn 18.

Evaluation

A post-implementation review will be conducted for this policy within 5 years of the policy coming into force. The review will establish whether and to what extent, the policy has achieved its original objectives and if these remain appropriate.  

Officials are developing plans on how best to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of the policy.