VAT On Most Of The Weekly Food Shop Is Already Zero

When the weekly shop gets dearer, the demand that follows is a familiar one: cut VAT on food. There is little left to cut. The Office for National Statistics reported on 14 August 2026 that, asked during July, 56% of adults in Great Britain said their cost of living had risen in the past month, and 94% of that group named the price of food shopping, the most common reason by a wide margin.

HMRC's guidance says most food of a kind used for human consumption is zero-rated, with some exceptions, under the Value Added Tax Act 1994. The catch is where the VAT sits: confectionery, crisps, salted nuts and some other savoury snacks, soft drinks other than milk drinks, ice cream, alcohol, hot takeaways, and anything eaten in. So a VAT cut on food would leave the staples people are naming untouched and land at the treat and eating-out end, where the temporary reduced rate on certain children's meals also ends on 1 September 2026. Schedule 8 can be varied by Treasury order under section 30(4), or by Parliament. HMRC only administers it. The shopper on a fixed budget is offered relief on a bill carrying almost no VAT.

1. Is cutting VAT on food a serious answer to a rising shopping bill, or a slogan that only works while nobody is told how their shopping is actually taxed?
2. The VAT still on food sits on confectionery, crisps and some other savoury snacks, soft drinks other than milk drinks, ice cream, alcohol and hot takeaways. If that came off, who would actually feel it in their weekly budget, and would it be fair?
3. If the aim is to cut what a family pays for its staples, and VAT is already off most of the basket, where should the Treasury be looking instead? Do you have a client who has asked you whether cutting VAT on food would help them? If so, please give as much colour and detail as possible.