16 May 2012. Fitness professionals and former Gladiators stars Jenny Pacey and Caroline Pearce, along with leading fitness instructor Olly Foster have today submitted a letter to 10 Downing Street signed by more than 30,000 members of the public, calling for the Government to drop controversial plans to introduce VAT on some sports nutrition products.
Under plans announced by the Chancellor during the Budget, the Treasury will introduce VAT on some sports nutrition products from 1 October, while products such as drinking chocolate, milkshakes and Jaffa Cakes will remain zero rated for VAT. Campaigners, including leading consumer groups and sports nutrition manufacturers and distributors have criticised the plans as a penalty on health conscious consumers.
The letter, which was organised by the UK Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance, has been signed by 32,331 members of the public and calls on the Chancellor to drop the plans, claiming it sends the wrong message in an Olympic year and that the Treasury has grossly underestimated the effect of the move on both consumers and the sports nutrition industry.
The campaign is also being supported by former Olympians and World Champions Derek Redmond and Mark Foster, and by former England Rugby captain Lewis Moody.
Derek Redmond said:
“I believe very strongly in this campaign, and that by imposing VAT on sports nutrition products the Government is effectively introducing an unnecessary health tax on consumers. We regularly hear about the problems of obesity in our society, and it sends entirely the wrong message to tax products that are designed to promote health and good nutrition.”
Mark Forster, who is a non-executive director of QNT UK Ltd, said:
“These products are used in all manner of exercise, from going to the gym to going for a run or a swim. The Government should be supporting people with an interest in their health and nutrition, not putting barriers in their way.”
Lewis Moody MBE, former England rugby captain and supporter of the campaign, said:
“I know from personal experience how valuable and effective these products are in assisting performance and recovery. Sports nutrition is not just for professional sportspeople, but for thousands of health conscious members of the public, who will be hit in the pocket if VAT is introduced on these products. The Government should look again at these plans.”
Chris Whitehouse, Campaign Director of the UK Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance, said:
“This letter is clear demonstration of the weight of public feeling against this health tax. It sends completely the wrong message, especially just months from the Olympics, for the Government to be penalising consumers with an interest in health and nutrition while the likes of Jaffa Cakes, drinking chocolate and milkshakes will remain exempt from VAT.
“We believe the Treasury has seriously underestimated the effect these plans will have on consumers and on the sports nutrition industry, and that they will generate little by way of revenue. This is flawed concept and one the Chancellor would be well served by dropping.”
The UK Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance has also claimed that flaws in the Treasury proposals will mean products not specifically identified and marketed as being for sports nutrition could be exempt from the introduction of VAT. The Alliance has warned that such products would also be unlikely to include guidance on usage and dosage, and would undermine the responsible practices of the sports nutrition industry.
The Alliance is calling on consumers to write to their MPs in opposition to the plans, and has posted details of how to do so on its website (http://novatonsportsdrinks.com), and will be holding a protest against the VAT plans at the BodyPower expo at the NEC in Birmingham at 2pm on 18 May.
The UKSSNA is also on Twitter at @NoSportDrinkVAT
UK Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance
The UKSSNA is an alliance of UK-based sports nutrition companies that produce and distribute sports nutrition drinks. The Alliance was formed on 29th March 2012 to campaign against the Government’s decision to introduce VAT at a rate of 20 percent on sports nutrition products from 1 October 2012.
Members include Affordable Supplements, Atlantic Multipower, Avenches Biotech, Bodybuilding Warehouse, BodyTemple, BulkPowders, Cambridge Commodities Ltd, Cellucor, CLF Distribution, Consumers for Health Choice, Glanbia, GNB, Health Food Manufacturers’ Association, HighFive, Holland & Barrett, Kinetica, MaxiMuscle, MuscleTalk, MyProtein, National Association of Health Stores, Performance Nutrition, PhD Nutrition Ltd, Powerhouse-Fitness, Predator Nutrition, QNT UK, Reflex Nutrition, Sci-Mx, Tropicana Health and Fitness, US Nutrition, USN, Weider Publishing.
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