GLEN Calls Out Lack of Notice for Statutory Levy Distribution as Unfair

Awareness group the Gambling Lived Experience Network (GLEN) has criticised the process of distributing prevention funding generated by the UK’s statutory levy, with interested parties being informed of their funding less than two weeks before it is due to start being used.

The levy came into effect last April, as one of the terms from the 2023 Gambling White Paper, requiring all licensed operators to pay a percentage of their gross gambling yield to contribute towards efforts to treat and prevent gambling harm. The rate ranges from 0.1% to 1.1%, dependent on the specific gambling-related activity. In December, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the levy had raised close to £120 million so far.

This marked a shift from the previous system of a voluntary levy, where operators would make an annual financial contribution to regulator the Gambling Commission, which would be distributed to one or more organisations which delivered or supported research.

The first prevention funding allocations, which are managed by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), total £25 million. OHID receives about 30% of the funding generated by the levy.  A total of 50% of the funds will go towards treatment and support services, and the remaining 20% of funds will go to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Lack of notice “hardly fair”

According to GLEN, the relevant parties were given just 13 days’ notice before the funding announced is due to start being used. GLEN said in a LinkedIn post:

“We truly hope that all organisations in this space received at least the equivalent funding to what their previous costs were because any other situation is not a transition which protects existing support to build a better system, but a lottery where services are sacrificed without any assessment or evaluation of needs they currently address.

“13 days’ notice of whether you have a future or not is hardly fair on the VCSE [voluntary, community and social enterprise] sector (especially when local authorities have known their funding allocation for some time).”

In a separate post, GLEN criticised the tender process that took place prior to the funding being announced, calling this “needlessly reckless.” GLEN posted:

“We believe that adopting a ‘validating existing spend and matching that amount approach’ would have been a far better way of ensuring effective and vital services are not excluded before they even have a chance to demonstrate worth though 'test and learn'.

“Commissioning decisions based on anything other than an existing understanding of what the needs are, and how services currently match to this need creates a risk of unevaluated services being lost today and only identified as having been needed later.”

Search for new Head of Gambling Research

Last week, UKRI began advertising for its Head of Gambling Research role, which will be funded by the levy. The successful candidate will be paid a salary of £58,589 per annum and will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the Research Programme on Gambling.

Problem gambling rates rising

Recent figures have shown a rise in problem gambling rates. According to the 2024 Gambling Survey for Great Britain, the rate went up to 2.7% for that year, up from 2.5% for 2023.

The two GSGB surveys have showed problem gambling rates have been significantly higher than the data was showing in previous surveys published by the Gambling Commission. The Commission previously announced that in the year to December 2022, a total of 0.2% of respondents classed as problem gamblers.