The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has today published its 2016 Budget Guide and distributed the booklet to industry participants.

The guide provides an overview of the BHA’s income and expenditure for 2015 and 2016 and the services that it provides to participants.

An electronic copy of the 2016 Budget Guide is available to view and download in PDF format here.

The headline elements of the 2016 Budget Guide are:

• An increase in annual expenditure of £1.128m taking total budgeted expenditure in 2016 to £31.925m. The additional expenditure will enable the BHA to deliver against its key strategic goals, which include delivery of a compelling package of participant welfare and training activity, completing its work around holistic race planning and streamlining its regulatory activity on racedays.
• In addition the BHA is taking a lead role in many areas of the ‘Strategy for Growth’ which aims to build a more prosperous and sustainable future for the sport, and those deriving their livelihoods from it.
• An increase in income of £816k taking the total budgeted income in 2016 to £31.152m. Over 95% of this income is generated from fees that the BHA charges British horse racing’s participants for the many services that it provides to them.
• Participants fee increases for 2016 are as follows:

– Racecourse fixture fees will increase by 3%.

– The majority of the fees charged to owners and trainers will not increase.

– Fees for professional jockeys will increase by 3%.

– Charges for Racing publications will increase by 3%.

These fee increases compare with a 5.85% increase to all fees in the prior year.

• Despite these fee increases the BHA is budgeting for a £773k deficit in 2016, which is £312k higher than the 2015 forecast deficit of £461k.
• The budgeted deficit will be funded by BHA cash reserves.

Nick Rust, Chief Executive of the BHA, said:

“One of my key aims has been to ensure that the BHA is more open, transparent and in touch with the needs of the sport it serves. With that in mind I felt it was important to publish a Guide to our 2016 budget which included a summary of the BHA’s sources of income and the services provided to industry participants. I also felt that it was important for us to communicate the full range of our activities which are all vital to delivering against our strategic goals.

“Whilst we are proud of the breadth and quality of the services that we provide to our participants and our role in the ‘Strategy for Growth’, it comes at a cost. The Industry’s participants are the primary funders of the BHA and whilst fee increases are required in order to enable us to deliver against our objectives, we recognise that times are tough financially and have attempted to keep these to a minimum. We are committed to exploring opportunities to reduce our cost base without compromising our service levels and exploring alternative funding opportunities in order to reduce the budgeted deficit.”