Production Tax Breaks Added £8 Billion to U.K. Economy

An independent report commissioned by BFI has found that the tax breaks across high-end TV, kids’ content, animation, film and video games added £7.9 billion ($10.4 billion) to the U.K. economy in 2016.

Overall, across film, high-end TV and animation, the tax relief boosted production spend by 63 percent and employment by 62 percent.

The high-end TV production tax credit was introduced in 2013. Since then, expenditure more than doubled from £414.9 million ($548 million) to £896.7 million ($1.2 billion) in 2016. High-end TV content also generated £580.2 million ($765 million) in revenue for U.K. broadcasters in 2016, and £185.8 million ($245 million) in revenue for other video platforms.

The report also found that film and high-end television production attracted £1.97 billion ($2.6 billion) of inward investment and international co-production in 2016, reflecting 76 percent of total spend on film and high-end television production. High-end TV attracted £554.2 million ($731 million) of inward investment and international co-production expenditure, a 28 percent rise on 2015.

Tax relief for animation, which also came into effect in 2013, helped to drive 2016 production spend to £97.1 million ($128 million), including £38.3 million ($51 million) in inward investment and co-production.

The children’s programming tax relief was introduced in 2015. In 2016, production spend on 36 kids’ programs was £61 million ($80 million).