CRAFT’s Open Letter to the Prime Minister: Back UK ComedY
Key points: CRAFT’s letter to the UK Prime Minister
Comedy is infrastructure, not just entertainment.
Today the Prime Minister cut business rates by 20% for pubs, social clubs and live music venues — and once again, comedy was left out, not by intent but by classification. So CRAFT has written to No 10, backed by cross-party parliamentarians and industry leaders, with a package of reforms to give comedy parity of esteem across the tax system.
The asks — eight fixes, minimal cost, immediate impact
Marginal extensions of support other sectors already receive. Each one names comedy explicitly — because being unnamed is how comedy keeps missing out.
VAT on live comedy
Live comedy admissions carry the full 20% rate — a charity theatre keeps all £30 of a ticket; the comedy club nearby keeps £25.
A 0% or reduced cultural VAT rate on live admissions, and on net ticket splits for non-VAT-registered talent, starting this summer.
Business rates relief
The 15% and new 20% reliefs cover pubs and music venues; comedy venues are excluded by classification — a postcode lottery of local discretion.
Make live comedy venues eligible for the 15% and 20% reliefs, with parity alongside pubs and live music venues.
Creators’ Averaging Relief
Writers can smooth spiky income across tax years; performers cannot.
Extend Creators’ Averaging Relief to performers across all creative industries, including comedy.
Theatre Tax Relief
Only “dramatic productions” qualify — straight stand-up fails the test, and just 1.5% of the sector reports any benefit.
Expand TTR to unscripted, broadcast and festival formats — or create a dedicated Live Comedy Tax Relief — and issue HMRC guidance for shows that already qualify.
Tax credits at every budget
The £420k–£450k per-episode threshold excludes most British comedy — the mid-range sitcoms, sketch shows and animation where new talent is developed.
Reform the tax credits framework so scripted comedy at all budget levels gets equivalent treatment to high-end TV and film, and reward sustained multi-series investment.
Income tax — new relief
Ireland’s Basic Income for the Arts returns €1.39 for every €1 invested; a UK framework is in development but talent is leaving now.
A temporary income tax holiday on the first £30,000 of comedy income — keeping talent in the sector, not in survival jobs.
Creative health — new relief
Arts therapists are supported through the tax system; the largely solo workforce delivering creative health through social prescribing is not.
A Creative Health Tax Relief for organisations and individuals, with comedy explicitly named — including Comedy-on-Prescription providers.
Audio & content — new relief
Reliefs cover film, TV, games, theatre, orchestras and exhibitions. Podcasts and audio — comedy’s fastest-growing formats — sit outside every one.
A format-neutral Audio/Content Tax Relief, with comedy explicitly named.
Who’s behind this
Personal statements from CRAFT’s patrons, the Comedy APPG, the UK Comedy Advisory Board and the trustees — 23 July 2026.
CRAFT Comedy PatronsTom Walker · Matt Forde
Tom Walker
Patron, CRAFT • Actor, Comedian, Producer, Writer, Podcaster • Creator of the fictitious character Jonathan Pie
“Comedy clubs are where this industry is made, the rooms where burgeoning comedians hone their craft night after night, and where communities come together for a laugh they can actually afford. So it’s genuinely disappointing to see them left out of the Prime Minister’s new rates relief. As I said at the first ministerial roundtable in March: if we stop seeing comedians as just entertainers and start seeing them for what they are — entrepreneurs, innovators and SMEs — support for the sector becomes a totally different conversation. Let’s hope the Prime Minister can help the industry.”
Matt Forde
Patron, CRAFT • Comedian, broadcaster and former political adviser • Host, The Political Party
“I’ve spent my life in both worlds — first as a Labour adviser, now as a comedian — and I’ve interviewed Andy Burnham on stage more than once, most recently just weeks before he walked into Number 10. So I know he gets what live rooms mean to people. Comedy clubs are where I learned my trade and where the next generation is learning theirs right now, in venues paying the same bills as the pub next door with none of the same support. Prime Minister: you’ve backed the pubs and the music venues. Back the comedy clubs too — and I promise to keep my impression of you affectionate.”
UK Comedy Advisory BoardOver 300 years of combined experience in comedy
Professor Lesley Sloss
Chair, UK Comedy Advisory Board • Ex-Comedy Momager • Former advisor to the International Energy Agency & the UN Environment Programme
“Don’t forget comedy. A nation that laughs together is healthier, kinder and more resilient. Comedy clubs are already doing exactly what the Prime Minister wants for our high streets — bringing people out, keeping communities connected, and giving the next generation of talent a stage. Yet they have been left out of the rates cut again, purely because of how they are classified. After twenty years in this industry, I have watched venues close that a fraction of this kind of support and recognition would have saved. The fix costs almost nothing: name comedy clubs and live comedy venues in the relief at the Budget, alongside pubs and music venues. Comedy isn’t asking for special treatment — just to be counted.”
Georgie Donnelly
Co-Vice-Chair, UK Comedy Advisory Board • Head of Comedy & Entertainment, AEG Presents UK
“I promote comedy at the largest scale — working with the biggest domestic and international names at theatres and arenas around the UK. Most of those headliners started in small clubs. The large venues only exist because the grassroots does, and yet the rooms building tomorrow’s arena acts are paying full rates while the pub next door gets a 20% cut. No serious industry lets its research and development go under. I strongly believe comedy clubs and venues should be included in the relief: protect the pipeline, and the biggest nights in British live entertainment can continue.”
Ish Kalia
Co-Vice-Chair, UK Comedy Advisory Board • Multi-award-winning BAFTA Comedy Executive Producer and Writer of TV, Film, Audio & Podcasts
“Comedy clubs are the research and development departments of British comedy, except that the research happens after dark and the development occasionally dies in complete silence. They are where performers learn their craft, test new ideas and find an audience. They are also where many of the writers and performers who go on to shape British television, film, radio and streaming first find their voice. Comedy clubs face the same rising costs as pubs and music venues yet receive none of the support afforded to them, whilst British comedy, and the writers and performers behind it, remains one of our most consistently successful cultural exports. The television and film industries benefit enormously from the talent developed in these rooms, yet the small venues that sustain this pipeline are too often treated as an administrative afterthought. Reforming AVEC to support scripted comedy at every budget level and reward sustained investment across multiple series would strengthen the entire pipeline. Extending business rates relief to live comedy venues would be a modest yet significant intervention, delivering substantial cultural and economic returns. Comedy clubs are not asking the Government to think every joke is hilarious. They are simply asking for the same recognition and support as the talent they nurture, and for a fair chance to stay open and thrive.”
Comedy APPG — cross-partyRichard Quigley MP · Martin Wrigley MP
Richard Quigley MP
Chair, Comedy APPG • Labour MP, Isle of Wight West • Former comedian • SME owner
“The 20% business rates relief is great news, but again comedy venues have been overlooked. I’m sure this is a simple oversight, and I will welcome the inclusion of comedy clubs as soon as possible. As Chair of the Comedy APPG, I invite the Prime Minister to meet the Group and CRAFT to look at the wider sector issues — there are major fiscal, healthcare and cultural benefits to supporting this sector.”
Martin Wrigley MP
Officer, Comedy APPG • Liberal Democrat MP, Newton Abbot • Member, DSIT Committee • Former Leader, Teignbridge District Council
“Having led a district council, I know exactly how business rates work on the ground and how arbitrary they can feel. A comedy club and the pub next door share the same high street, the same overheads and the same customers, yet one now gets a 20% cut while the other gets a classification argument with its local authority. That isn’t devolution; it’s a postcode lottery. Naming live comedy venues in the relief would give every council a clear, consistent baseline at minimal cost to the Treasury. As an officer of the Comedy APPG, I’m proud to stand up for the venues that keep our towns’ evenings alive — they deserve to be counted. I hope the Prime Minister will confirm their inclusion.”
CRAFT Political Patrons — cross-partyDame Caroline Dinenage MP · Samantha Niblett MP · Dr Simon Opher MBE MP
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP
Patron, CRAFT • Conservative MP, Gosport • Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Committee • Co-Chair, Creative Health APPG
“Comedy is one of the UK’s most consumed artforms and a proven export, yet it is repeatedly the missing name in support for live entertainment. If pubs and music venues merit a 20% rates cut, so do the comedy clubs beside them. I urge the Prime Minister to correct this omission, give comedy parity, and meet with CRAFT and the Comedy APPG to discuss the bigger issues holding the industry back.”
Samantha Niblett MP
Patron, CRAFT • Labour MP, South Derbyshire • Chair, Diversity & Inclusion in STEM APPG • Member, DSIT Committee
“The Prime Minister is right to back the businesses people want to see in their communities. And people want comedy clubs. They are SMEs across the UK, under exactly the same cost pressures as pubs and music venues. Extending reforms to include comedy would cost little and signal that Government backs the whole night-time economy, not part of it. I encourage the Prime Minister to meet CRAFT and the Comedy APPG urgently — the bigger picture for this industry deserves his attention.”
Dr Simon Opher MBE MP
Patron, CRAFT • Labour MP, Stroud • Chair, Creative Health APPG • GP and MBE-awarded social prescribing expert
“I am delighted that the new Prime Minister is providing the High Street with much needed breathing space via a 20% cut in business rates for pubs and live music venues. They do so much for our local communities. I am hopeful that the Treasury will extend eligibility to comedy venues who have suffered greatly like live music venues over the last few years — this would provide much needed respite for an industry that has struggled and lacked support at a critical time for their future.”
CRAFT Board of TrusteesAll volunteers · charity in formation
Lu Jackson (Chair), Alister Morgan, Jake Jefferson, and Jen Smith
CRAFT Board of Trustees
“Performing comedy is a lifelong craft. A singer can sing their greatest hit a hundred ways for fifty years; a comedian gets one shot at a joke — once it’s released to the world, it’s retired, and they start again with a blank page. British comedy clubs are the beating heart of that craft: the rooms where grassroots talent learns its trade, and where the biggest names on the planet return to hone the sets they’ll film for global streaming specials. A handful of major names and brands generate billions for the UK economy, with untold cultural and healthcare benefits, yet none of it is reinvested to flywheel more of it, which stifles innovation and fiscal opportunities. Comedy isn’t recognised as an artform and has never had a seat on the Creative Industries Council — music has five, theatre has three. Right now, a heatwave, a World Cup and a cost-of-living crisis have formed a perfect storm that’s left clubs empty across the country. Clubs are not benefiting from the summer support measures, nor business rates relief. The industry we love desperately needs Government support.”
Document ends. Comedy begins. Britain thrives.
CRAFT — Comedy Representation & Artform Trust · Secretariat of the Comedy APPG · CIO in formation · trustees@thecraft.lol
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