Theatre trade organisations Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre (UKT) have welcomed the publication of the first set of figures following the introduction of Theatre Tax Relief in 2014.
SOLT and UKT lobbied for the introduction of the scheme following similar relief for film and other creative industries, and then led the negotiations with HMT and HMRC, including training the industry over the last two years. The scheme has, to date, provided 1,750 productions with £60.3 million of tax relief.
A survey produced by the organisations found that the relief had allowed producers to become more adventurous and compensated for reductions in funding from other sources.
Julian Bird, Chief Executive of SOLT and UKT, said, “The introduction of Theatre Tax Relief demonstrated the importance to our national economy of our billion-pound theatre industry, but most importantly has since encouraged a huge amount of investment which has increased jobs and emboldened producers of work in all genres to take bigger, more creative risks.”
“We are also pleased to see that year-on-year there has been a big increase in the number of productions making claims, and SOLT and UKT will continue to raise awareness and lobby to help improve how the scheme is administered.”
The full figures are available here.
SOLT and UK Theatre are the trade associations representing the interests of those engaged in the production and presentation of medium to large-scale dramatic and lyric theatre in the UK. SOLT represents approximately 200 London-based producers, theatre owners and managers. UK Theatre represents approximately 220 theatres, concert halls, dance companies, producers and arts centres throughout the UK.