News
- Commission on Alcohol Harm calls for evidence
- Two years on Are annual functions reports reaching their potential?
- We need to do more to protect our children and young people
- Alcohol related hospital admissions for 2018 to 2019
- Hitting the right note in training
- Minimum unit pricing update
- Scottish primary children call for action on alcohol
- New Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support Now Available from AFS
- Its time to tell us whats in our drinks
- A home for Rory
- Making a bad impression - blog post
- Alcohol sales and MUP
- Alcohol-specific deaths 2018
- Five tips for upping the engagement factor
- Alcohol marketing and children debate in the Scottish Parliament
- Lowest alcohol sales in 25 years
- Research into fall in violence
- The Children's Parliament investigates an alcohol-free childhood
- Five tips for training delivery nerves
- Minimum unit pricing one year on
- More about sales data
- A family of resources it is all about prevention, education and resilience
- AFS publish Review of Licensing Board Annual Functions Reports 2017-2018
- Marketing unmasked dispelling the myths and taking a stand
- No place for alcohol marketing in sport
- Five pitfalls to avoid in evaluating training
- Scotland publishes first UK guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
- Scotlands new drug and alcohol strategy launched
- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Cross-Party Group Improving Scotland's health: 2021 and beyond October 2018
- Diageo is failing to provide latest guidelines on their products
- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
- Reducing alcohol consumption can address health inequalities
- Alcohol-specific deaths remain at very high levels
- Oh Lila goes digital
- Global first alcohol policy set to save hundreds of Scots' lives
- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
- Walker's crisp ad exposes children to alcohol marketing
- Truer picture of alcohol harm revealed
- Focus on link between alcohol and obesity
- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
- Last Christmas for heavily discounted alcohol
- Scotland's licensing system needs clearer direction
- Minimum pricing blog
- Minimum pricing gets green light
- Reflections on GAPC 2017
- Alcohol brands and young people
- Time for honest conversations about alcohol
- Q&A on alcohol marketing
- UK children anxious about parents' drinking
- Quarter of Scots drink above guidelines
- Alcohol producers failing to inform public
- Concern over alcohol-related deaths
- We need to make it easier for people to drink less
- Worrying rise in alcohol-related deaths
- Minimum pricing will save lives
- Pocket money prices for alcohol continue
- Scotland's alcohol problem laid bare
- Cheap alcohol is costing Scotland dear
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- What next for reducing alcohol harm in Scotland?
- Scotland must do more to turn tide of alcohol harm
- Concern as funding for alcohol services cut
- Budget: No change in alcohol duty
- Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing
- Consumers have the right to know health risks
- Chancellor urged to tackle cheap, strong cider in Budget
- Online help for families affected by alcohol
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
- Drink drive warning
- Scottish Greens call for action on alcohol marketing
- Scottish Government receives European alcohol award
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- Half of alcohol being sold under 50p per unit
- SWA urged to respect minimum pricing decision
- Alcohol and mental health are closely linked
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- Alcohol sold at pocket money prices
- Scotland has so much to gain from reducing how much we drink
- AFS welcomes revised alcohol consumption guidelines
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- Public health must prevail over big business
- New toolkit to help children affected by family alcohol problems
- Price check reveals cheap cost of strong alcohol
- Sales increase underlines need for minimum pricing
- Time to kick alcohol out of sport
- Alcohol linked with stomach cancer
- AFS calls for compulsory health warnings on alcoholic drinks
- Are supermarkets 'responsible retailers' when it comes to alcohol?
- Scottish health charities call for excise duty rise to tackle cheap alcohol
- Alcohol campaigners unite to call for stronger protection from alcohol advertising to children
- New resource for people concerned about alcohol in their community
- Minimum pricing decision delayed until summer
- No completely 'safe' level of drinking
- New alcohol guidelines published
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
- Alcohol fuels ambulance assaults
- 82% of Scots agree drink driving is unacceptable
- Scotland's alcohol strategy - what next?
- Scotland leads way in evidence-based alcohol policy
- New report reveals impact of alcohol on emergency services
- Alcohol: a global concern
Minimum unit pricing - one year on
1st May 2019 marks the first anniversary of the implementation of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in Scotland. Scotland was the first country in the world to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol (MUP), following a ten year campaign.
The minimum unit price was set at 50 pence per unit, meaning that since 1st May 2018 no alcohol can be sold in Scotland below this price. This is a licence condition for all shops, pubs, restaurants and clubs which sell alcohol. In practice on-sales prices in bars, restaurants and clubs have largely been unaffected as most prices were already well above 50 pence per unit. The impact on prices has almost exclusively been in the off-trade where, prior to MUP, nearly half of alcohol sold (47%) was sold below 50p per unit. High strength, low-cost products such as strong ciders and lagers and cheap spirits have been particularly affected as some retailed for as little as 18p per unit before MUP.
Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said, “Before minimum unit pricing was introduced you could drink more than your weekly units for less than the price of a cup of coffee. Now that’s not the case which can only be a good thing.
“It’s no secret that Scotland has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. In 2017, 1,200 Scots lost their lives, while more than 35,000 people were admitted to hospital as a result of drink. This shocking impact on our health is accompanied by other social harms such as violent crime. Something needed to change, and while everyone accepts that minimum unit pricing on its own will not solve our alcohol problem, it’s a good start.
“Everyone is keen to know what the impact of the policy has been and we’re just a few weeks away from seeing the next NHS Health Scotland Monitoring Report, which will be the first to include data on the amount of pure alcohol sold per adult in Scotland since the introduction of the policy, compared with the rest of the UK. However, it is important to remember that that while we hope to see positive indicators in the first year, the effects are expected to build over time. An independent evaluation, led by NHS Health Scotland, will assess the impact of the policy on health, crime and the industry over the next five years, making MUP one of the most thoroughly evaluated polices ever implemented in Scotland.
“AFS remains confident that minimum unit price will save the lives of hundreds of Scots and improve the wellbeing of thousands more.”
The implementation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol on May 1 2018 was the culmination of a decade’s worth of policy and communications work by AFS and others. Find out more.
