Policy paper

Tobacco and Vapes Bill: creating a smoke-free UK and tackling youth vaping factsheet

Published 13 November 2024

Extent of measures

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be a landmark step in creating a smoke-free UK.

It will introduce a smoke-free generation by gradually phasing out the sale of tobacco products across the country: the bill makes it an offence to sell tobacco products, herbal smoking products and cigarette papers to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. Children born on or after this date will never be able to be legally sold tobacco products, breaking the cycle of addiction and disadvantage.

The products in scope include:

• cigarettes
• hand rolled tobacco
• cigars
• cigarillos
• pipe tobacco
• waterpipe tobacco products (for example, shisha)
• chewing tobacco
• heated tobacco
• nasal tobacco (snuff)
• herbal smoking products
• cigarette papers

Display, sale and advertising 

The bill will ban the advertising and sponsorship of all vapes and other nicotine products (such as nicotine pouches), mirroring impactful restrictions on tobacco.

The bill will close loopholes and ban all vapes and nicotine products (and non-nicotine vapes) from being sold to under 18s as well as banning the free distribution of these products and their sale from vending machines.

The bill will also provide ministers with powers to regulate the flavours, packaging and display of all vapes and other nicotine products, as well as powers to amend and update product standards.

Expanding existing legislation

The bill will allow us to expand current indoor smoking restrictions to certain outdoor public places and workplaces. In England, the government is considering extending smoke-free outdoor places to outside schools, children’s playgrounds and hospitals but not outdoor hospitality settings or wider open spaces like beaches. Private outdoor spaces are out of scope of the powers in the bill. Exactly which settings should become smoke-free will be a matter for secondary legislation and will be subject to a full consultation.

The bill also provides powers to make places vape-free and heated tobacco-free, insofar as they are smoke-free places. Vape usage is already prohibited in many places and, as with smoke-free places, proposals for any restrictions will be subject to full public consultation.

Enforcement and registration

The bill will strengthen enforcement activity to support the implementation of the above measures. It will provide powers to introduce a dedicated licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco products, herbal smoking products, cigarette papers, vapes and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The bill also strengthens Scotland’s existing retail register by expanding its scope to herbal smoking products and nicotine products.

It will also provide enforcement authorities in England and Wales with the power to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) of up to £200 for offences including the underage sale of tobacco and vaping products, and FPNs set at £2,500 for offences in connection with licensing.

The government is also including powers to introduce a new product registration scheme for tobacco, vapes and nicotine products. This scheme will set out requirements for producers and manufacturers before a product can be sold to consumers.

Rationale for intervention

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health in the UK. It claims around 80,000 lives a year, causes 1 in 4 of all cancer deaths and kills up to two-thirds of its long-term users. Smoking also substantially increases the risk of many major health conditions throughout people’s lives, such as strokes, diabetes, heart disease, stillbirth, dementia and asthma.

Smoking costs the economy and wider society £21.8 billion a year. This includes an annual £18.3 billion loss to productivity, through smoking related lost earnings, unemployment and early death, as well as costs to the NHS and social care of £3.1 billion. These are resources that could be freed up to deliver millions more appointments, scans and operations every year. Almost every minute someone is admitted to hospital because of smoking and up to 75,000 GP appointments can be attributed to smoking each month - over 100 every hour.  

Second-hand smoking poses a risk to your health even outdoors. It is particularly dangerous for vulnerable people like children, pregnant women and those with pre-existing but usually invisible health conditions such as asthma and heart disease. In some public settings exposure can be high - if you can smell smoke you are inhaling it.

While nicotine vapes can play an important role in helping adult smokers to quit, selling nicotine vapes to under 18s is illegal. Due to nicotine content and the unknown long-term harms, vaping and nicotine products carry risk of harm and addiction. This is particularly acute for adolescents, whose brains are still developing.

The long-term harms of colours and flavours when inhaled are unknown, but they are highly unlikely to be beneficial. However, due to the branding and promotion of vapes to children, youth vaping has more than doubled in the last 5 years and 25% of children have tried vaping in 2023. Vapes are not the only potential issue - use of other nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches, is also increasing, particularly among young men. 

Geographical scope

The legislation will apply UK-wide, building on the existing legislative frameworks of the 4 nations to create a cohesive approach to regulating tobacco and vaping products. The UK government has worked with the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on the development of the bill. The extent of the measures varies across the UK respecting the devolution settlement. Wales and Scotland have already gone further on smoke-free places, banning smoking outside hospitals, with Wales also including school grounds and public playgrounds.

Timeline for implementation

Subject to approval from Parliament, the age of sale restrictions for tobacco will come into force on 1 January 2027, when those born on 1 January 2009 turn 18. The coming into force date for measures introduced via regulations will be set out in the secondary legislation.