Red Meat Levy Redistribution

There may be a redistribution of levy board funding in the beef and sheep sectors as a result of a proposal put to Ministers.  The three red meat levy organisations in England, Scotland and Wales, AHDB Beef & Lamb, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC), have agreed a fairer system.  At the moment, the levy is paid at the point of slaughter.  With the consolidation in the abattoir sector over the last few years, slaughter facilities are now found disproportionately in England.  There is curently no mechanism to ‘repatriate’ levies even if cattle or sheep have been bred and reared in Scotland or Wales.  Therefore AHDB Beef and Lamb receives more generous funding than HCC or QMS.  The new plan would see producer levies being linked to animal numbers in each country – derived from surveys and movement databases.  As the move requires new legislation, it is unlikley to be in place until the spring of 2017 at the earliest.