Less than two weeks into the job (at time of writing), Andy Burnham has committed his government to something rarer than it should be

In our open letter to Andy Burnham, sent in response to him becoming Prime Minister, we mentioned the comments he made during the Makerfield by-election regarding business rates. In this open letter we urged that not only should this policy be implemented, but expanded to other ‘social’ businesses.  

Business rates reform has been the subject of cross-party debate for years and almost no action. Of course, whether this survives contact with the Budget and is enacted come April 2027 is still to be seen, but we welcome the direction that this government is taking and are keen to see how the fitness industry factors into their agenda.

Because it is also precisely the argument Fair Rates For Fitness has been making, an argument that thousands of people up and down the country have agreed with and messaged their MPs about.

The question nobody in Government will answer yet

But the government doesn’t seem to be cutting rates evenly across the hospitality sector. It is separating businesses by the contribution they make to a community, and asking the tax system to reflect that. The press release confirmed that the £100 million cost of the move will be recouped in part by paring back the relief measures currently enjoyed by what the government has called “anti-social businesses”, vape shops and gambling arcades among them[1].

To use the Prime Minister’s own words on the matter

“It’s about developing a business rates regime where we really give incentives to support the businesses that bring benefits, and look differently at those that cause social harm, and that’s the change that we will bring through”[2]

We couldn’t agree more, which makes the exclusion of ‘gyms’ from the catchy tagline of ‘pubs, clubs and music venues’ all the more curious.

If the test for preferential treatment is social contribution, any given gym will pass that test as convincingly as any pub in England. Every session a member does is a small act of prevention: a lower resting heart rate, a stronger back, a mind better equipped to cope with the trials and tribulations of day to day life. Multiply that by the millions of people who belong to a gym in this country and you are looking at exactly the kind of national resilience the NHS Ten-Year Plan says Britain urgently needs and currently lacks. Obesity alone costs the UK an estimated £126 billion a year

If the paradigm is ‘social’ versus ‘anti-social’ we would suggest that a gym sits much closer to the pub than to the vape shop, and by a considerable distance.

We appreciate that it is early days, both for the government and this new policy, we all know more details will emerge as they are ironed out across the various arms of government.

But it was a policy announced to signal intent, and the repeated messaging towards ‘pubs and clubs’ can only make the excluded ‘social’ sectors wonder why that is the case.

How should the fitness industry respond to the announcement?

But none of this happens without making some noise. If you think a gym deserves the same recognition as a pub under this government’s own logic, share this article and share https://fairratesforfitness.com/ with anyone in the industry you think hasn’t seen it yet.

Gym Owners have been having great success by sending out a call to action to their members. Most have no idea how their gym is taxed and many have been willing to take a few minutes. MPs pays attention to numbers of people asking a question a good deal faster than it pays attention to one campaign letter.

And what comes next?

If the fitness industry isn’t included in these latest relief measures, our stance is clear. Recognise independent gyms and fitness facilities as the preventative health infrastructure they already are, and extend to them the same rebalancing logic now being applied to pubs, clubs and music venues. Every £1 spent on physical activity is estimated to return £4.38 to the wider economy[5]. A government looking for the cheapest, fastest and most visible public health win available to it will be hard pressed to find another proposal able to match that maths. 

Mr Burnham has, in less than a fortnight, put the business rates discussion into the public eye, and that is genuinely worth applauding.

So the question stands, and it is a question asked in good faith to this new government.

If a pub is worth propping up because it is a social good, and a vape shop is worth penalising because it is a social harm, where does a gym sit on this scale?
 

We will continue to follow this policy as information comes out. For updates on this and many other pieces of industry news across the UK and Ireland, be sure to follow the Gym Owner’s Forum on our social media pages.

Fair Rates for Fitness campaigns for independent gyms and fitness facilities to receive business rates treatment that reflects their role as preventative health infrastructure.

[1] Burnham means business: PM slashes business rates bills for pubs, clubs and live music venues – GOV.UK

[2] Burnham cuts rates for pubs, clubs and music venues but Badenoch asks: ‘Is that it?’ – BBC News

[3] UK’s obesity and overweight epidemic costs £126bn a year, study suggests | Obesity | The Guardian

[4] Mental ill health costs society £300 billion every year, according to new Centre for Mental Health economic analysis – Centre for Mental Health

[5] Health, wealth and happiness – the £123bn value of activity | Sport England