Tax could force Aardman Animations overseas

One of the bosses at iconic British animators, Aardman Animations, has warned that the UK's punishing tax regime could force the company to relocate overseas.Miles Bullough, the head of TV at the company behind Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts, said that the UK's TV animation industry is in crisis due to tax breaks that are offered for film animations, but not for TV works."When a company like Aardman is considering offshoring stop-frame animation, which we are at the moment, something's got to be wrong," Bullough told BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend over the weekend. He explained that while films made in the UK can receive tax credits of around 15-20 per cent, TV animation made in the UK receives nothing. He said that a lot of famed British animation companies had already sent their shows to be made abroad, or were being bought out by foreign companies. "HIT, a beacon of excellence in children's animation in the UK and maker of Bob the Builder and Pingu, has just been bought by US company Mattel," Bullough said. "Cosgrove Hall, known for Dangermouse and Avenger Penguins, is sadly no longer with us."Mr Bullough said that companies in Canada, Ireland and France received government support for domestic TV animation and that similar support could mean an awful lot for the UK. He explained, "Animation is such a labour-intensive undertaking that by retaining jobs in the UK we increase national insurance receipts, tax receipts, expenditure and VAT receipts and actually a tax credit should be profitable in the long run."

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