UK to cap concert ticket resale prices and platform fees
Key Points
- Draft bill bans ticket resale above original price paid
- Service fees charged by resale platforms will be capped
- Bill faces pre-legislative scrutiny by the CMS Committee this session
- UK live music spending hit £6.7 billion in 2024
- 23.5 million tickets were sold for UK gigs in 2024
The government will bring forward a draft bill this parliamentary session banning the resale of live event tickets for more than their original price, alongside a cap on the service fees resale platforms can charge.
The measures, first announced in November 2025, form a package that includes obligations on resale platforms to comply with the price cap and enforcement penalties for those that fail to do so.
The draft bill will undergo pre-legislative scrutiny by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, supported by the Business and Trade Committee, before it becomes law.
The reforms target industrial-scale touting, in which resellers buy large volumes of tickets online and relist them at vastly inflated prices. Consumer spending on live music in the UK reached £6.7 billion in 2024, up 9.5% year on year, with 23.5 million tickets sold for UK gigs – a 23% rise on 2023’s total of 19.2 million.
The government has also asked industry, led by trade body STAR (The Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers), to work with it on tackling touting and improving transparency in pricing practices. Ministers said the aim is to protect consumers and improve access to live events while ensuring fans retain a safe and secure means of reselling tickets they can no longer use.
The commitment was confirmed in the government’s new Music Plan, published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on Tuesday. “We will stamp out ticket touts who are causing misery in the industry and we will always have your back,” said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
The plan states the bill will be scrutinised to ensure the final legislation is “effective, enforceable, and future-proof”. The government’s full response to its consultation on the resale of live events tickets has been published alongside the plan.
The reforms sit within a wider package for fans that includes the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, known as Martyn’s Law, which introduces new protective security requirements for venues, and the All In accessibility scheme, which rolls out across the UK and Ireland later in 2026/27.
