UK media tax breaks work says BFI
October 10, 2018
An independent new report published demonstrates the value of the government tax reliefs across the UK’s screen industries, seeding unprecedented levels of production, creating thousands of jobs, growing businesses and infrastructure, generating record levels of inward investment, boosting exports of UK productions and services internationally and creating spillover benefits for other industries claims the BFI.
The report reveals that an estimated £632 million (€723m) in tax relief seeded £3.16 billion in direct production spend in 2016, a 17 per cent increase on 2015. UK-made productions generated £7.9 billion as the screen sector’s overall economic contribution (GVA), including £2 billion in tax revenues. Production spend which would not take place without the tax reliefs, known as additionality, doubled GVA to £4.1 billion in 2016.
Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK is a comprehensive analysis of the economic contribution of the tax reliefs for film, high-end television and, for the first time, analyses the new tax reliefs for video games, TV animation programmes and children’s TV programmes. The report uses the latest complete dataset available from 2016.
The report has been produced by analysts Olsberg SPI with Nordicity, and commissioned by the BFI, working with industry partners including the British Film Commission (BFC), Pact, Pinewood Group, UK Interactive (Ukie), the UK Screen Alliance and Animation UK.
Minister for the Creative Industries, Margot James, said: “The UK is a creative powerhouse for producing many award-winning films, shows and video games enjoyed by millions globally. It is home to incredible success stories such as James Bond, Batman Arkham, The Crown and Horrible Histories demonstrating that Britain is a hub for creativity. These fantastic statistics show investment in our screen industries is booming and government is committed to supporting their continued success through our tax reliefs and modern industrial strategy, which is helping our creative sectors go from strength to strength.”
Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO says: “Screens of all sizes are now central to our daily lives and today’s report shows the UK as a global leader in creating the content for those screens. This new report endorses the huge part the government’s tax incentives play in our success story, creating a fiscal environment that’s boosting the economy, creating jobs and supporting our outstanding talent and infrastructure. The reliefs are also of huge cultural importance, enabling talent to produce the richest possible range of films, television programmes and video games, which create IP, and are loved by audiences both at home and around the world. It is the BFI’s mission to maintain and improve this globally competitive environment for the future and the BFI stands ready to work with government and industry to help continue this growth in the years ahead.”