Revealed: alcohol abuse costs soar to £27bn a year

The cost of alcohol abuse is laid bare in a new study that shows £27bn a year being spent in England on the health and social harms of drinking.

- Anna Bawden

The research found the extra financial burden on the NHS, social services, the criminal justice system and the labour market cost at least 37% more than in 2003, when comparable research by the Cabinet Office estimated the costs at between £18.5bn and £20bn.

Dr Sarah Clarke, president of the Royal College of Physicians, called for urgent action to tackle the issue, with the cost "growing year on year".

Alcohol cost the health service £4.9bn a year, of which more than £3bn was from alcohol-related A&E visits and hospital admissions, according to calculations by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) using the same methodology.

Official figures released in April showed that a record 10,048 people in 2022 died from causes alcohol-specific the highest level since records began in 2001. Drinking has been linked to numerous health conditions including seven types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis, stroke and digestive problems.

Alcohol also has a much wider impact on individuals and society. The IAS study put alcohol's cost to the criminal justice system at £14.6bn, with more than 4m alcohol-related crimes. Social services spend nearly £3bn a year dealing with the impact of drinking on individuals and families. In the wider economy, the study estimates £1bn is lost as a result of unemployment due to alcohol use, and nearly £4bn through lost productivity.