Summer VAT Cut: 5% VAT on Children’s Meals, Tickets and Family Days Out

If your business feeds or entertains families — or you’re simply planning a summer of days out with the kids — there’s a new VAT change worth knowing about. From 25 June 2026 to 1 September 2026, the government is temporarily cutting VAT from 20% to 5% on children’s meals, children’s tickets, and admission to a wide range of family attractions. Here’s what’s covered, what isn’t, and what businesses need to do.

What’s Changing?

Announced by the Chancellor on 21 May 2026 and set out in HMRC’s Revenue and Customs Brief 5 (2026), the temporary 5% rate applies to three main categories:

• Children’s meals served in restaurants, cafés and similar venues

• Children’s tickets for cinemas, theatres, shows, concerts and exhibitions

• Admission for everyone (adults included) to qualifying family attractions

The aim is to make summer holiday activities a little cheaper for families with children. The cut runs for the school summer holidays only — 25 June to 1 September 2026 inclusive.

Children’s Meals

The 5% rate applies to meals that are genuinely held out as children’s meals — think a dedicated kids’ menu — eaten on the premises. The key points:

• The meal must be marketed, priced and presented as a children’s meal — not just a smaller or cheaper portion of an adult dish

• A fixed-price kids’ meal deal (e.g. main, drink and dessert) qualifies in full, including a non-alcoholic drink

• Extras chosen from the standard adult menu don’t qualify

• Takeaway meals are excluded — it’s eat-in only

Children’s Cinema and Theatre Tickets

Tickets marketed and sold specifically as children’s tickets for cinema screenings, theatre performances, shows, concerts and exhibitions qualify for the 5% rate. Adult tickets sold separately stay at 20%.

There’s a generous quirk for family tickets, though: where a venue sells a family package (say, two adults and two children for one price), the whole ticket — adult admissions included — qualifies for the reduced rate.

Family Attractions — Everyone’s Ticket Qualifies

For certain family-friendly attractions, the 5% rate applies to all admission tickets, regardless of the visitor’s age. Qualifying venues include:

• Theme parks, amusement parks, fairs and water parks

• Zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks and farm attractions

• Museums, heritage sites, planetariums and botanical gardens (where admission isn’t already VAT-exempt)

• Soft play centres, indoor bounce parks and adventure parks

• Circuses and observation attractions such as viewing towers and wheels

The reduced rate covers the admission charge only — food, merchandise and separately priced upgrades keep their normal VAT treatment. Sport is excluded entirely, so admission to sports events and use of sports facilities stay at their usual rates.

At a Glance

Item	VAT rate (25 Jun – 1 Sep 2026)
Kids’ menu meal eaten in a café or restaurant	5%
Takeaway children’s meal	20%
Child’s cinema or theatre ticket	5%
Standalone adult cinema ticket	20%
Family ticket including at least one child	5%
Adult admission to a theme park, zoo or soft play	5%
Admission to sports events or facilities	Unchanged

Timing and Advance Bookings

The 5% rate applies where the admission date falls within the relief period — so a ticket bought in July for a visit in October stays at 20%. Season passes that allow visits beyond 1 September generally won’t qualify.

If customers have already pre-paid (even before the announcement), businesses can choose to apply the lower rate and adjust their VAT accounts — and HMRC expects customers to be refunded the VAT difference where they’ve overpaid.

What Should Businesses Do Now?

• Check whether your supplies fall within scope — the “marketed, priced and presented” test matters, so how you describe things on your menu or ticketing page counts

• Update your till, EPOS and booking systems with the new rate codes ready for 25 June

• Review advance bookings and decide whether to apply the reduced rate to prepayments

• Plan for the switch back to 20% from 2 September 2026

One note of caution: the change is being introduced by statutory instrument and HMRC’s brief reflects the law as it’s expected to apply once enacted — so keep an eye out for the final legislation before banking on it.

How Can Flow Help?

Temporary VAT rate changes can be fiddly — mixed supplies, tax points and prepayment adjustments all need careful handling, and getting the rate wrong cuts straight into your margin. If you’d like help working out what qualifies and getting your systems ready, book a free discovery call with our team here: https://calendly.com/flowaccandtax/discoverycall