Endgame: Managing the disposable vapes ban and the journey to a smokefree future
Executive summary
Reducing smoking rates has undoubtably been a major public health success in recent decades. The current Labour Government’s decision to prioritise the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and the disposable vapes ban presents the latest policy package aimed at getting us more quickly to a smokefree future.
However, in taking these next steps the landscape to be navigated is complex. The rise of vaping as a smoking cessation aid has helped many people quit smoking. However we have also seen a worrying rise in the numbers of young people vaping who have never smoked. Vapes have been developed that have been heavily marketed to children, that are affordable, easily accessible and disposable. The contents of these products can also be unclear, with a growing illicit market and contamination with other banned substances. The NHS has recorded over 400 vaping related hospital admissions a year.1
Tackling vaping needs to be addressed carefully. It is an intervention that for public health professionals should be offered alongside others such as nicotine replacement therapies to support adults in quitting smoking, but one also that needs to not be promoted and easily accessible to those who have never smoked, children and young people.
The Government’s latest tobacco and vaping control reforms seek to manage this difficult balance.
One of the priority reforms to reduce youth vaping (and to deliver environmental benefits) is the introduction of a ban on disposable vapes. Younger people are more likely to be users of disposable vape than older groups. The disposables ban is due to come into force in June 2025.
This research shows that this ban, whilst welcome, presents challenges for the Government’s smokefree ambitions. Our polling finds that up to 200,000 extra people could start smoking as a result of the disposables ban, including greater proportions of younger people. Younger people starting smoking are more likely to become addicted, with associated poorer health outcomes and longer term costs.2
For the Government there is now a need to re-commit to the mass media funding announced by the last administration to communicate the benefits of quitting smoking and going nicotine free, using their new regulatory powers to crackdown on the inappropriate promotion of vaping to younger people and the illicit vapes market. New targets should also be set for reducing youth vaping rates.
Within the health service the new ten year plan can help better integrate support across primary care to help people in going nicotine free, with pharmacies having an important and expanded role to play. This should be supported by better data collection that includes people’s smoking and vaping status.
The research also finds that between 630,000 and 1.36 million people could switch to another vaping product as a result of the ban. Using the disposables ban to try and encourage more of these people to go nicotine free is a potential opportunity that is currently being missed.
Ultimately the ambition for Government should be to reduce both the numbers of smokers and vapers and helping more people go nicotine-free. The advice of the UK Chief Medical Officer is clear ‘if you smoke, vape. But if you don’t smoke, don’t vape.’3
Summary recommendations
Recommendations
- The Government should ensure that reducing smoking is a clear priority for the health mission and that new related targets are set for reductions in youth vaping rates and in people going nicotine free as well as smokefree
- The Government should re-commit to mass media funding in support of efforts
to reduce smoking and in communicating the benefits of the Tobacco & Vapes Bill and the disposable vapes ban - Following passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill the government should prioritise vaping regulations on branding, packaging and displays as well as restricting the use of flavour descriptors. Such action will ensure vaping is not being inappropriately promoted
- The Government should ensure sufficient resource is put behind enforcement action relating to the forthcoming Vaping Products Duty and efforts to crackdown on illicit vapes. The Government should report annually to Parliament on actions taken
- The Government and royal colleges working alongside partners such as the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) should publish materials supporting improvements in clinical education on smoking, vaping and nicotine addiction. Similar evidence based guidelines for service planners should be rolled out across local authorities and the NHS
- The Government’s ten year health plan should ensure co-ordinated action to reduce smoking is taken through the planned move towards more preventative healthcare and the use of integrated neighbourhood teams. Pharmacies should be given a clear, funded role in supporting people in going smoke and nicotine free. A person’s vaping status should be captured and recorded through primary care consultations in a similar manner to a person’s smoking status
- Local health services and local authorities should use Government funding for stop smoking services to support the evolution of such services from supporting people to go smokefree to nicotine free6
- Local health services should ensure that the disposable vapes ban is factored into their future efforts to tackle wider health inequalities
2 https://ash.org.uk/health-inequalities/youth-smoking
3 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chief-medical-officer-for-england-on-vaping
6 A recent Healthwatch report identified an example where someone accessing a stop smoking service for help in quitting vaping was turned away. Support needs to available to those looking to quit both smoking and vaping: https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/blog/2025-01-15/how-can-we-better-support-people-stop-smokingand-vaping
This research report from Future Health has been commissioned and funded by Kenvue* the makers of Nicorette®**. The report was authored by Future Health and the final content is editorially independent