The UK’s incoming vape tax could mean stop-smoking services in England provide fewer vape kits or support smokers for less time, a smoking cessation consultant has warned.
Sairah Salim-Sartoni said the Vaping Products Duty could increase costs for local public health departments when it comes into force on 1 October.
The duty will apply at a flat rate of £2.20 for every 10ml of vaping liquid, whether or not it contains nicotine. A 2ml pod will attract 44p in duty, while a 10ml refill bottle will incur the full £2.20 charge.
Speaking during a UK Vaping Industry Association webinar, Salim-Sartoni warned that the higher cost of vape supplies could limit the reach of publicly funded schemes.
“If you look at Swap to Stop, that’s going to be in massive jeopardy. It’s going to be in massive jeopardy,” she said.
“Finally, we’re able to give out these vape kits. I remember in 2013, ’14, wishing for a day like this, but then we got it. We did get it.”
She said the additional cost could leave departments with fewer kits to distribute, raising questions over “who gets the kits then? And how much do we give them?”
Public health teams urged to calculate the impact
Swap to Stop was launched to provide smokers in England with free vape starter kits alongside support to quit cigarettes.
For 2026/27, funding for the programme has been consolidated into England’s wider public health grant alongside funding for local stop-smoking services.
The Government has allocated £4.404 billion to upper-tier and unitary local authorities in England through the public health grant, including £152.8 million in ring-fenced smoking cessation funding. The grant includes funding for local stop-smoking services and Swap to Stop.
Salim-Sartoni said some departments currently provide four weeks of vape supplies, while others offer longer periods of support.
“At the moment, they’re giving out four weeks. Some then choose to give out more, but some departments are just giving out four weeks,” she said.
She called on stop-smoking services and public health teams to assess how the duty could affect the number of people they can support.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea for stop smoking departments or local public health departments to actually sit down and look at, okay, from our service provision point of view, what’s going to be the impact?” she said.
“And from our health inequality point of view, even if people don’t come to our services, but they’re going down to whatever retailer it is to go and get a product, what is going to be the impact on them? And put that together.”
She said local evidence could help inform the Treasury about the potential effect on health inequalities and support the case for a more gradual approach.
“And I think it needs to be small, incremental changes,” she said.
Salim-Sartoni also questioned whether stop-smoking services were sufficiently aware of the coming price rise.
“With a lot of stop smoking services up and down the country, they may not be aware,” she said.
“But I have to question that, because they’re going to be getting the kits from retail. They have to know that the cost is going up.”
Questions over the cost to consumers
The warning follows separate concerns that HM Revenue and Customs may have underestimated how much e-liquid regular vapers use and therefore how much the duty will cost them.
Vape Club managing director Dan Marchant said an HMRC response to a Freedom of Information request gave an average annual consumption figure of 617ml per vaper, which he said had been used in calculations underpinning the duty. That’s equivalent to about 11.9ml a week or 1.69ml a day.
Marchant argued that this could understate consumption among regular users. Vape Club calculated that, once VAT is included, the duty could add £5.28 a week or around £275 a year for somebody using 20ml of e-liquid a week.
At 40ml a week, the additional cost could reach around £550 a year.
Tax barrister Andy Wood has also warned that businesses are likely to pass much of the cost on to shoppers.
“Although the legal responsibility for paying the new Vaping Products Duty sits with businesses, it would be surprising if a significant proportion of that additional cost wasn’t ultimately reflected in retail prices,” he said.
The Government says the duty is intended to make vaping less affordable and appealing to young people and non-smokers while preserving a financial incentive for smokers to switch from cigarettes.
Tobacco duty will rise alongside it in an effort to maintain the price difference between vaping and smoking.
The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the vape duty to raise around £200 million in 2026/27, rising to £600 million by 2030/31.
Salim-Sartoni said the Treasury should consider evidence from public health bodies, including local impact assessments, alongside industry and consumer data, and argued that the duty should be introduced through “small, incremental changes”.
