Soft drinks levy extension to sugary milk drinks ‘will save NHS £36m’

The soft drinks levy will be extended to cover pre-packaged milk-based and milk-alternative drinks with added sugar, in changes the government says could cut 17 million calories a day from the nation’s daily intake and save the NHS £36m.

The extension will apply to products including supermarket milkshakes, flavoured milks, sweetened yoghurt drinks, chocolate milk drinks and ready-to-drink coffees. Plain, unsweetened milk and milk-alternative drinks will not be included.

Companies will have until 1 January 2028 to remove sugar or face the levy charge. The threshold for the levy is also being lowered from 5g to 4.5g of sugar per 100ml.

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The changes are expected to reduce daily calorie intake by around four million in children and 13 million in adults across England, and could prevent almost 14,000 cases of adult obesity and nearly 1,000 cases of childhood obesity, according to the government.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said: ‘Creating an environment where children are encouraged to have drinks which contribute to increased levels of obesity can harm their health for the rest of their lives.

‘The existing soft drinks industry levy has already substantially reduced the amount of sugar in shop-bought products, helping slow the increase in childhood obesity and bring down hospital admissions for tooth extractions among young children.’

The existing levy, introduced in 2018, has seen the average sugar content of drinks in scope fall almost 50%, said the Department of Health and Social Care.

According to government figures, between 2015 and 2024, the levy led to substantial reductions in hospital admissions for children requiring caries-related tooth extractions, with decreases of over 28% among children up to four years old and more than 5% among five- to nine-year-olds.

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Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘The levy has already shown that when industry cuts sugar levels, children’s health improves.

‘So, we’re going further. A healthier nation will mean less pressure on our NHS, a healthier economy and a happier society.’

The changes to the levy follow a government consultation that ran from April to July 2025.

Helen Kirrane, head of policy and campaigns at Diabetes UK, said: ‘With cases of type 2 diabetes continuing to rise at an alarming rate, particularly in younger people, we need bold action to cut unnecessary sugar from food and drink.

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‘Expanding [the levy] to include milk-based and milk-alternative drinks, which can contain large amounts of hidden sugar, is a welcome step forward.’

Last month, the government announced a package of measures to address rising rates of childhood obesity in England, following the release of new national data showing more than one in five children aged 10 to 11 are living with obesity.