Tax breaks and ‘streamer levy’ urgently needed to support UK’s drama sector, MPs say

A new report has called for an urgent package of support for the UK’s ‘crisis-hit high quality drama sector’.

The report from the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee said “all elements of British film and high-end television” are in need of additional government support.

It recommends a series of measures aimed at halting what it described as “the decline of domestic production of culturally distinct British film and programmes”.

Among the measures is a proposal that all streaming platforms operating in the UK should pay a 5% levy on UK subscriber revenue, which will go into a BFI administered cultural fund to support domestic production.

If this isn’t voluntarily established within a year, the report calls on the government to introduce a statutory levy.

Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage, who chairs the committee, said that “unless the government urgently intervenes to rebalance the playing field, for every ‘Adolescence’ adding to the national conversation, there will be countless distinctly British stories that never make it to our screens”.

Recommendations for the film industry include amending the definition of R&D for tax relief purposes, and introducing tax relief for the print and advertising costs of films.

Dinenage added that the report offers a way forward for the government “to put the name of the UK film and television industry up in lights around the world”.

This, she continued, could be done “by offering the right tax incentives, tackling skills shortages, improving worker rights and making sure the rise of AI is a positive force, not a disincentive to investment”.