UK government confirms HFSS advertising restrictions from October 2025

The new Labour government has confirmed that it will implement the ban on advertising food and drinks that are "less healthy", which had been proposed by the previous Conservative government.

Watershed for broadcast ads

From 1 October 2025, there will be a ban on advertisements for less healthy food and drink being shown on TV before 21:00 in the UK.

Ads within Ofcom-regulated on-demand programme services will be subject to the same 21:00 watershed and otherwise paid-for ads for in-scope food and drink products will be banned completely online.

In a written statement, released last Thursday 12 September, Andrew Gwynne (the health minister) re-confirmed the ban as a means of tackling childhood obesity and confirmed that only advertisements for "less healthy food and drink" will be caught within the scope of the restrictions.

'Less healthy' definition

For a product to be defined as "less healthy" for the purposes of the restriction, the product must:

• fall within one of the product categories in the schedule to the draft regulations;
• score 4 or above for food, or 1 or above for drink, when applying the 2011 technical guidance to the 2004 to 2005 nutrient profiling model (NPM).

The government has stated that it will provide further guidance on product categories in due course, which should include clearer examples of which food and drink items fall within each category. It also confirmed that brand advertising falls outside the scope of the restrictions, which will be welcomed by many in the sector.

Regulated IPTV services

Alongside this, the government has launched a new consultation on how the new restrictions will apply to internet protocol television (IPTV) services that deliver TV services and advertising live (as opposed to on demand) over the internet.

Under the government's proposals, only IPTV services that are Ofcom regulated (that is, they appear on regulated electronic programme guides) would be exempt. Unregulated IPTV channels would continue to be subject to the online restrictions.

This consultation closes on 10 October 2024. 

Osborne Clarke comment

Given the numerous delays in the implementation of these restrictions, businesses now have clarity that the ban will come into force on 1 October 2025.

While this certainty is welcome, it does mean that brands with products in scope will need to start planning alternative strategies for their marketing campaigns (such as leveraging brand advertising). In particular, businesses might want to watch this space for the guidance promised by the government and may wish to respond to the consultation on IPTV services.