Our letter to the Chancellor on Great British Summers

In response to the recently announced temporary VAT discount for summer attractions, our CEO, Sarah Fowler, has written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, reminding the government that charities need to be at the table. 

Re: Temporary discount on VAT for summer attractions 

Dear Chancellor, 

I welcome the temporary reduced rate of VAT for children’s meals and for certain visitor attractions over the summer. This is an opportunity to help more people enjoy an enriching day out with their family. 

At WWT, the wetland charity, we have been spearheading initiatives to make enriching days out in nature more accessible to everyone – from introducing reduced price Universal Credit tickets across our wetland centres, to giving away free tickets for everyone on World Wetlands Day. We’re inspiring the next generation with our award-winning Generation Wild scheme, which passed a milestone last year with 65,000 children in underserved communities engaging with wetlands and their wildlife. These initiatives are not new to us – as charities we operate for the benefit of the nation and have done so for decades. 

This is why, to truly make experiences available to all, charities must be given a voice in the decision-making process. We will be passing the new VAT discount on where relevant, for children's meals in our cafes for example. But by not having the charity voice at the table, decisions like this can leave us vulnerable to unintended consequences and, importantly, miss opportunities for greater impact. The extra discount on VAT for the for-profit attractions can put already VAT-exempt charities at a commercial disadvantage and risks confusing visitors who turn up hoping for a discount, only to be disappointed. At a time when charities are already under financial pressure, these siloed decisions limit our ability to keep providing life-changing experiences. 

We want to make sure that every child comes back from the summer holidays this year having had a transformative day out in nature. But to do that, the government must bring tourism for good to the table on decisions such as the one made last week. A quick win would be ensuring appropriate charity representation goes into the newly established Civil Society Council. Together, we can ensure the outcome is always that more people, from more backgrounds, can have remarkable experiences in the natural world. This is surely the only way to save it. 

Yours, 
Sarah Fowler 
Chief Executive, WWT, the wetland charity 

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