Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to allow small breweries to disregard beer spoilt during the covid-19 outbreak for calculating production volumes in 2020 for the purposes of small brewers' relief.

UK law does not allow for in-year adjustments to be made to the current year’s production for the purposes of Small Brewers Relief (SBR) after beer has been finished.

Brewers who have had to discard spoilt beer in 2020 due to COVID-19 have been able to reclaim the excise duty payable from HMRC in line with the requirements set out in HMRC Excise Public Notice 226. Where small brewers’ production has been lower than expected due to reduced demand, this will be taken into account when calculating their SBR eligibility for 2021.