UK Chancellor Urged To Intervene & Help “Struggling” Indie Film Sector By Inquiry Boss

UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been told to use his forthcoming Spring budget to make an “urgent intervention” to support the UK indie film sector in a letter published by Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee. 

The letter follows the second evidence session of the Committee’s inquiry into British film and high-end TV, which featured Sixteen Films producer Rebecca O’Brien alongside Film4 and BBC Film heads Ollie Madden and Eva Yates. The letter outlines the committee’s concerns that the British film industry is increasingly reliant on investment from overseas productions, resulting in what it describes as a “vulnerable domestic sector,” and asks the Chancellor to introduce enhanced tax relief for independent British films in the Spring budget.  

“To address this issue, we urge the Government to introduce enhanced tax relief for British films within a budget range of approximately £1 million to £15 million, building on modeling undertaken by industry bodies such as Pact and with the support of the BFI,” the letter reads. 

“Enhanced tax relief will help ensure that more British stories are told and seen by wider audiences and add resilience to our homegrown sector. Most importantly, it will also give confidence to private investors, boosting investment that domestic producers can attract from other sources.” 

Accompanying the letter, Dinenage said last year’s Hollywood labor strikes “made it clear just how reliant the UK’s film and high-end television industry is on work from US studios and streamers, while domestic film production is facing a crisis.”

She added: “It’s clear that Britain’s independent film industry is struggling, and Government intervention, including enhanced tax relief, is urgently needed to support it.” 

In his last Autumn budget, Hunt announced plans to reform the film and TV relief from a rebate of 25% to a new “expenditure credit” of 34%. The change was set from January 2024 and represents a 0.5% real-terms increase in the tax break.

Producer trade body Pact criticized the move, saying the government had “missed an opportunity to remedy a clear market failure” within the independent film sector by failing to take up the body’s offer to increase tax relief specifically on lower-budget films of £1M to £15M to 40%.

 “An increase to the Film Tax Relief of 40% would stimulate investment into the sector, create jobs and opportunities for new talent, which in turn would benefit the wider audiovisual economy,” said Pact CEO John McVay.

“As the creative industries are one of the Prime Minister’s priority sectors for economic growth we urge the Government to not to miss this opportunity to grow a culturally and economically important part of the creative industries.”

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry is set to continue in the coming weeks.