In the last few years, the UK authorities have pushed forwards with multiple systemic changes that promise to have a paradigm shifting impact on harm minimisation in the UK. And while the potential for improvements is there, risk also exists for the services delivering support in the UK. 

It started with the shift away from the old RET funding system for harm minimisation work. The RET system was a flawed system. To start with, it was voluntary, leaving the industry to decide what appropriate levels of support for harm minimisation were. And while I’m not going to say the practice was widespread – with the majority of RET funding going to GambleAware to administer – the RET system did allow the industry the latitude to favour projects that were seen to align more closely with the values and objectives of the businesses. And oversight of how funding was spent was also far less robust than it should have been, resulting in big ticket projects that cost far more than they should. So the RET system was far from perfect.  

But while the RET system had problems, we shouldn’t forget its successes. The UK represented one of the best funded, and most diversely resourced sectors in the world. It delivered unparalleled quality and scope of support, and the RET system incubated a space that unquestionably came to be world leading. The RET system has been gone for a while now, yet many of the organisations that made it up are still considered thought leaders in the space. So while the RET system had its flaws, everything that follows is a testament to its success. 

The introduction of the levy looks set to significantly improve oversight, with far stronger policies targeted at inhibiting industry influence. And, with its licence-mandated contributions, is intended to significantly increase the funding available to support harm minimisation efforts. These are big positives, but not without their own risks. There will be new and increased levels of bureaucracy. This will naturally slow the speed with which the system can respond to emerging challenges. And the structures required to administer the additional oversight will eat a substantial portion of any extra funding the system actually generates. 

In effect, the shift from RET to levy gambles with a system that was already good in the hopes of creating one that is great. 

But the gamble in the UK have not stopped with the switch from RET to levy. The implementation of a significant tax increase on the sector may have secondary implications for harm minimisation funding.  

The impacts of taxation level changes are notoriously challenging to predict. What seems like a simple equation is subject to a range of human, market and societal forces, meaning that what may seem logical and straightforward can have unpredictable and potentially seismic consequences.   

Those that have lobbied for, and implemented, this tax increase believe that substantial extra public funding can be raised while still allowing the legitimate industry to flourish. Advocates for the industry foresee the legal market shrinking significantly due to the increased tax, while the growth in the footprint of the black market accelerates. 

It is beyond my limited knowledge to assert the realities of how the tax increase will actually impact the market. And I struggle to believe the voices on either side confidently asserting that they “know” what will happen. Time will tell. But the tax increase represents another significant gamble for the harm minimisation space. With the levy tied to licensee revenue, and the tax increase extremely unlikely to result in revenue rises, the levy funding pot can at best hope to remain the same, but risks dropping if sector revenues decrease. If this happens, the additional funding the levy promised to raise could slip through our hands like smoke. 

So different policymakers within the system have made two huge changes. One that directly impacts how harm minimisation support in the UK is delivered. And one that will indirectly, but potentially significantly, impact the funding that is available to deliver that support.  

The UK sector has put its chips down, and the wheel is spinning. We’re all hoping for a win. But it’s too early to say what the outcome will be.