Starting 25 June 2026, the UK government is cutting VAT on tickets to family attractions and on children's meals at restaurants from 20% to 5%. The reduction runs until 1 September 2026 — roughly the UK school summer holidays.
If you run a theme park, zoo, soft play, museum, aquarium, family restaurant, or any similar venue that sells admissions or kids' meals, this affects you.
BookingNinja is proud to be the first hospitality software company that fully supports these temporary rate change, and the platform can apply the reduction automatically. We've built a one-click setup page, a customer-facing discount line, and an accountant-ready report.
The whole thing takes about thirty seconds to configure so you can pass these savings on to your customers and increase your total bookings this Summer.
What the Scheme Actually Does
For ten weeks this summer, qualifying admissions and children's meals drop from 20% VAT to 5%. That's a meaningful saving for families and a meaningful operational change for venues. A £20 child's ticket that used to charge £4 VAT now charges £1. A £15 kids' meal drops from £3 to 75p.
The detail matters. The brief is at gov.uk and it's worth a read. The short version is below, but you may want to consult with a specialist VAT advice company such as Otterbear Advisory, who have a helpful blog post detailing these changes and some of the more common questions.
Who Benefits
The reduction is broader than it first sounds. The brief covers admission charges to:
- Amusement parks, theme parks, fairs, water parks
- Soft play centres, indoor bounce parks, indoor play
- Circuses, adventure parks, outdoor adventure centres
- Zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, farm visitor attractions
- Museums, planetariums, heritage sites, nature reserves, botanical gardens
- Observation towers, viewing platforms, observation wheels
For these venues, the reduced rate applies to every customer's admission, not just children's tickets. An adult ticket to a zoo this summer is at 5% VAT, not 20%.
For restaurants and cafés, the reduction applies to genuine children's meals — meals held out for sale only as a children's meal, supplied for consumption on the premises. The package price (main, drink, dessert) is reduced as a whole, provided the drink is non-alcoholic.
For cinemas, theatres, concerts, and exhibitions, the reduction applies to children's admission tickets specifically, and to family tickets sold as a single bundle.
What Doesn't Qualify
Just as important. The brief is explicit about exclusions:
- Sports. Sports events, sports facility use, and participation in sport or physical recreation are out. A kids' tennis club session isn't covered, even if you market it for children.
- Already-exempt venues. If your venue is VAT-exempt (registered charities running qualifying admissions, for example), this doesn't change your status. Don't switch it on.
- Pay-per-ride at theme parks. Only the admission charge is reduced. Individual ride payments stay at 20%.
- Add-ons. Food stalls, merchandise, photo packages, locker hire, parking — anything sold separately from the admission stays at the standard rate.
- Season passes that span beyond the window. If a pass is priced above a single-entry ticket and lets the holder visit after 1 September, it doesn't qualify.
- Smaller adult portions. A 6oz steak isn't a children's meal just because it's smaller. The meal has to be specifically held out for children.
- Meals with alcoholic drinks. A kids' burger with a glass of wine for the parent on the same plate-price doesn't qualify.
- Adult-only theatre or cinema tickets. The reduction is for children's tickets and family bundles, not for adult standalone admissions to these venues.
The takeaway: the rule turns on how you market, price, and present the ticket or meal, not just on who shows up to consume it. If you're unsure whether a specific guest type qualifies, talk to your accountant before switching it on. We're not in a position to give tax advice and the brief leaves judgement calls to operators.
Two Clicks to Set It Up
We've added a quick-setup page that handles the configuration for you.
- Go to Settings → Tax.
- Click Setup UK Summer 2026 Scheme at the top of the VAT Reduction section.
- Review the auto-suggested guest types (we tick the ones whose names suggest they qualify: Child, Family, Junior, Kid, Infant, Toddler, anything starting with "Under"). Untick anything that shouldn't be included.
- Click Apply Scheme.
That's it. The reduced rate, the dates, and the guest-type flags are all set in one go. Bookings made from that moment onwards, for dates between 25 June and 1 September, will pay 5% VAT on the qualifying portion and 20% on everything else.
Your customers see a clear line in their booking summary:
Subtotal £80.00
VAT (20%) £16.00
VAT reduction (Child) −£6.00
Total £90.00
No confusion about why the price has changed. Just a visible saving and a total that reflects it.
Accountant-Ready Reporting
VAT compliance starts and ends with what you can show HMRC. Every booking made during the window stores a snapshot of what was actually charged — the standard rate, the reduced rate, the saving, and the qualifying lines. If you turn the rule off later, or change the dates, historical bookings keep their original numbers. The audit trail is permanent.
In the Analytics section, you'll find a dedicated VAT Reduction panel showing:
- Total reduction applied for the period
- Number of qualifying bookings
- Number of qualifying guests
- A day-by-day breakdown with gross at reduced rate, VAT collected, what VAT would have been at the standard rate, and the saving
There's an Export CSV button in the top-right that downloads the daily breakdown in a format that drops straight into a VAT return spreadsheet. Hand it to your accountant when the quarter closes and they'll have everything they need.
One Thing to Watch
If you've already taken bookings at 20% VAT for dates that now fall inside the reduction window, those bookings keep the rate they were charged at. HMRC's brief says you may need to refund the VAT difference to those customers if you elect to apply the lower rate. BookingNinja doesn't automate that — you'd handle the refunds manually through Stripe.
The simplest way to avoid the question entirely: switch the reduction on before you take any more bookings for dates after 25 June. New bookings will automatically be at the reduced rate; you don't need to think about it.
Get Started
The full guide, including the quick-setup walk-through and a complete list of what qualifies and what doesn't, is in our help centre.
If you have any questions about whether the scheme applies to your venue or how it interacts with your existing pricing, speak to a qualified accountant before flipping the switch. We've made the software easy. The tax decisions are still yours to make.