What the Great British Summer Savings VAT cut means for venues with children's and family programming

If you're selling children's or family tickets for shows in the UK this summer, you are probably aware that HMRC has temporarily reduced VAT on qualifying children's and family ticket admissions from 20% to 5%, for admission dates between 25 June and 1 September 2026, as part of their Great British Summer Savings measure.  

We've added a new setting in Ticketsolve to handle the reduced rate. But there are a few things worth understanding before the window opens - particularly if you're already selling advance tickets for summer shows.

Which tickets qualify

Which tickets qualify depends on the type of admission you're selling 👇

Children's and family tickets for theatres, cinemas, concerts and shows

For theatres, cinemas, exhibitions, concerts and shows, the reduced rate applies only to tickets sold as a children's ticket or a family ticket. A standalone adult ticket stays at 20%. A family package sold as a single price that includes at least one child admission qualifies, including any adult admissions within the package.

Admission tickets to qualifying visitor attractions

For qualifying visitor attractions, the reduced rate applies to all admission tickets during the window, regardless of the customer's age. This covers museums and similar cultural facilities (including planetariums, heritage sites, nature reserves and botanical gardens), zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, farm visitor attractions, amusement parks, water parks, theme parks (excluding pay-per-ride attractions), adventure parks, circuses, soft play, indoor bounce parks and observation attractions. If a single ticket gives admission to more than one attraction, the rate can still apply, but season passes or repeat-entry tickets that extend beyond the window have their own rules. HMRC's brief has the full eligibility criteria.

Summary of rates

The table below shows how the categories above translate into rates.

The rate follows the event date, not the purchase date

The 5% rate applies to any qualifying admission between 25 June and 1 September, regardless of when the ticket was bought. A ticket sold today for a performance on 12 July qualifies - so if you're already selling children's or family tickets for summer events, those sales are within the window.

That said, Ticketsolve calculates VAT at the point of sale, so the 5% applies to new sales from the point you enable the qualifying ticket setting - not retrospectively. Sales already recorded at 20% stay at 20% in your VAT summary. HMRC's brief confirms that businesses can choose to apply the lower rate to advance sales already made, but if you do, the expectation is that you refund the customer the difference. Our help centre article covers your options for bookings already sold at 20%.

Eligibility for the rate is defined by HMRC here.

One order, two rates

When a customer books a mixed family group - an adult and a child for the same performance - the child ticket is taxed at 5% and the adult ticket at 20%, on the same order. The checkout looks the same to the customer: one booking, one total. The VAT is split correctly per line, with each rate broken out clearly on the receipt and in your reports.

The choice venues need to make

Ticketsolve stores ticket prices inclusive of VAT and back-calculates from the gross. That means setting a ticket as a children's or family ticket changes the rate but keeps the gross price the same - so by default, the VAT saving stays with the venue as additional margin rather than passing through to the customer.

If you want to pass the saving on, you'll need to create a new price at a lower gross. To put that in practical terms: a £12.00 child ticket at 20% VAT has a net value of £10.00. The equivalent price at 5% would be £10.50 - same net but a lower gross, with the saving passed on. Our team can walk you through setting that up, or read through our help article here.

Which way you go is a commercial decision. HMRC's eligibility guidance is clear that the determining factor is whether a ticket is marketed and sold as a children's or family admission.

Booking fees don't automatically apply

By default, per-ticket booking fees stay at the account's standard rate (20%) even on a child ticket. If you want your per-ticket booking fees to follow the reduced rate, you can enable that via the " Booking charges inherit event tax  Booking charges inherit event tax"  opt-in setting per event or product. Per-cart booking fees aren't affected either way.

Shows that span the window are handled per performance

If you have a run or a programme that starts before 1 September and extends beyond it - Ticketsolve checks the admission date for each individual performance. Performances inside the window are taxed at 5%; those outside stay at 20%. There's  no need to split events or worry about reverting the setting on any ticket prices with the setting enabled.

The rate reverts automatically on 1 September

There's nothing to switch off or manually reverse. Ticketsolve stops applying the reduced rate for admission dates after 1 September, and your pricing returns to the standard rate without any action needed from you.

Getting set up before 25 June

If you're a current customer selling qualifying children's or family tickets, head to our help centre article to get started with setup. If you have a large volume of qualifying ticket prices across your programme, we can help you work through those - get in touch with the support team here. 

If you're not yet using Ticketsolve and want to see how we handle VAT, reporting and pricing across a varied programme, we'd be happy to show you around.