Ticketing Consultation and Call for Evidence: Government Response

Kate Dearden Excerpts

Wednesday 19th November 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kate Dearden)]

The UK has a world-leading live events sector. Our major sporting and cultural events not only are key to our social fabric, but support economic growth right across the country. For too long, however, access to live events has been undermined by ticket touts who exploit fans and extract value unfairly from the live events sector. Seeing your favourite artist or performer should not be a rip-off, and the hard-earned cash that fans pay to attend events should flow back into supporting growth and jobs in the sector, not line the pockets of touts. At the same time, we have seen that new practices across the ticketing market, such as dynamic pricing, are presenting further challenges for fans when buying tickets for the events they love.

This Government are committed to putting fans first, ensuring that they are protected from harmful practices on the ticket resale market. Today, we are setting out our plans to deliver for fans and the live events industry, by publishing the Government responses to the consultation on the resale of live events tickets and a call for evidence on pricing practices in the live events sector, which we ran earlier this year. This is another milestone in delivering on our commitment to grow our world-leading creative industries, as part of the Government’s new industrial strategy, boosting investment in the sector from £17 billion to £31 billion by 2035.

Government response to the consultation on the resale of live events tickets

After reviewing the evidence submitted through the consultation process, the Government are announcing that we will introduce the following measures:

A resale price cap which prohibits someone from reselling a ticket for more than the original ticket cost, inclusive of unavoidable fees incurred during the original purchase—saving fans an estimated £37 for each ticket bought on the resale market.

A separate cap on resale service fees, to ensure the price cap cannot be undermined by inflated fees, while providing a sustainable margin for resale platforms.

Resale volume limits which make it unlawful for someone to resell more tickets for an event than they were entitled to purchase.

Strict legal obligations on platforms to ensure compliance with the price cap, applied broadly to all online platforms facilitating resale of live events tickets.

There was broad support among fans, businesses and consumer groups for these measures, which make good on our manifesto commitment to put fans back at the heart of live events and end the scourge of industrial-scale touting. The Government will legislate to implement these measures when parliamentary time allows.

We recognise that robust enforcement is vital, so we will enable enforcement of the new measures via the consumer enforcement regime established by part 3 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which recently came into effect. This regime provides for tough financial penalties of up to 10% of global turnover, and expedited powers for the Competition and Markets Authority to tackle certain consumer law breaches directly.

Government response to call for evidence on pricing practices in the live events sector

Overall, the responses we received revealed considerable frustration among fans about their experience of buying tickets for live events and suggested that there is scope for live events businesses to improve how they present pricing and other ticket information.

Businesses are already required by law to give fans clear and accurate price information before purchase, free from undue pressure or other manipulative tactics that could influence their decision. These principles are linchpins of consumer law and continue to apply to businesses in the live events sector, as in any other market. Based on current evidence and given that price transparency is already enshrined in consumer law, the Government do not intend to bring forward any new legislative proposals on pricing practices in the live events sector.

However, the ticketing industry must do better to earn the trust of the dedicated fans that sustain the live events sector. The Government expect businesses in the sector to treat the evidence gathered through our call for evidence as an incentive to act. Businesses should also carefully review the CMA’s recent findings on dynamic pricing, published on 20 June 2025, and ensure that their practices align with the guidance that the CMA has published alongside those findings. We welcome the commitment from the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers to convene the sector to establish best practice on ticketing, including price transparency, and look forward to seeing the outcome of this work.

Meanwhile, the outcome of the CMA’s investigation into Ticketmaster sends a clear signal to all ticketing platforms that fans must have access to clear and timely pricing information with accurate ticket descriptions, especially where different pricing models and queuing systems are in use. Where businesses fall short of what is expected of them under the law, the CMA has powerful enforcement tools to ensure businesses can be penalised and brought into line.

I am placing a copy of the Government response to the consultation and call for evidence in the Library of each House.

[HCWS1077]