Minimum pricing has been abandoned in England and Wales and replaced with a ban on “below-cost selling”.
Analysis using the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model predicts that the impact on the five per cent of the population who drink at harmful levels is a 0.08% reduction. The central estimates for the impact on alcohol-related harm is a reduction of approximately 15 alcohol related deaths per year, 500 hospital admissions and 900 alcohol-related crimes. The original proposal of a minimum price of 45 pence per unit of alcohol is estimated to produce effects around 40 to 50 times larger than that of banning below-cost selling.
These estimated policy impacts are results from version 2.5 of the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model. A detailed research report on minimum pricing policies and a separate addendum on below-cost selling are available
here.
The University press release
here.
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