JTI RESEARCH: £9.3 BILLION LOST TO ILLEGAL TOBACCO, BUT LOCAL COUNCILS REFUSE TO ACT

• At least 9 councils nationwide conducted 0 investigations and had 0 prosecutions for illegal or counterfeit tobacco from 2018 to 2022.
• Over this five-year period, Rochdale, Havering, and Kingston upon Thames were amongst the councils refusing to act.
• Some councils, such as Hull, carried out over 249 investigations in the same time period, resulting in 53 criminal prosecutions.
• HMRC estimate that since 2018, £9.3 billion in tax revenue¹ has been lost due to illegal tobacco to cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco.

LONDON, Nov. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New research published today has found that at least 9 local authorities nationwide did not start a single investigation into the sale of illegal or counterfeit tobacco products from 2018 to 2022. The 9 authorities were: Calderdale, East Dunbartonshire, Isle of Anglesey County Council, Rochdale, Havering, Lambeth, City of London, Kingston upon Thames, and York.

Other councils, such as Hull, have taken robust action to tackle the issue, with 249 investigations and 53 prosecutions, more than any other council. Middlesbrough were also relatively active in this area, with 416 investigations, and 15 prosecutions.

Freedom of Information requests sent to 96 councils across England and Wales, show significant variation between the approaches taken by local councils. Councils in London (Kingston), Manchester (Rochdale), Wales (Isle of Anglesey County Council), and Scotland (East Dunbartonshire) were amongst those taking no action.

A lack of action by these councils will undoubtedly lead to increased sales of illegal tobacco, which is often linked to organised crime, a blight on local communities and contributing to the large tobacco tax gap. This gap, as estimated by HMRC, is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. Since 2018, £9.3 billion in tax revenue has been lost in this way. In 2021-22, alone, the tax gap was £2.2 billion.

According to the Police Federation, £2.2 billion could pay for more than 77,000 new police officers.²

Freedom of Information Requests were sent to a sample of 96 councils, asking them for the data below.

Commenting on the data, Sarah Connor, Communications Director at JTI UK, said:

"Some councils' poor enforcement of existing laws raises doubts about their ability and capacity to enforce a more complex generational ban. Illegal tobacco is already a significant issue, and the generational ban has the potential to worsen this, by driving adult smokers to buy cigarettes from organised gangs."

Top performers

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For further information, please contact:
Sarah Connor
sarah.connor@jti.com

Full source data is available upon request.

¹ This figure is the sum of HMRC's tobacco duty gap, which includes cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, for the last five years. These figures are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps/3-tax-gaps-excise-including-alcohol-tobacco-and-oils#tobacco
² A newly appointed constable, after 01/09/23 would earn £28,551. (https://www.polfed.org/resources/pay-scales/constable-pay-scales/)

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