Horserace Betting Levy Board

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) is publishing its first three-year Business Plan, covering the period to March 2025. This document, which can be found here, brings together the key strands of activity on which HBLB will focus in the medium-term, all of which link to the legislative responsibilities of the organisation and the Board’s agreed strategic priorities. HBLB has been operating to this Business Plan internally since mid-2022.

The Business Plan sets out a series of goals and “Racing Outcomes”, derived from the purpose and vision of the organisation set by the Board. The Racing Outcomes are HBLB’s aspirational aims for the sport in which HBLB has a direct interest and which will guide the Board’s decision-making on grant applications. These are data driven and are worked on collaboratively with the sport.

The Business Plan includes a set of income assumptions for the period, recognising that these will inevitably be adjusted in the light of actual Levy yield.

The document highlights 26 key projects planned by HBLB for the three years, covering both internal working arrangements and external-facing plans. It sets out the organisation’s approach to its main activities and how the Board will implement a detailed set of mitigations of its identified strategic risks.

The Business Plan reflects that the Levy collected by HBLB under statutory authority is classified by Government as public money. This requires HBLB’s compliance with or regard to a range of public sector reporting requirements and management responsibilities, including Managing Public Money and the Government Functional Standards (government-wide standards with expected compliance levels for public bodies), including those for Grants, Finance, Audit and Digital, Data and Technology.  

HBLB Chief Executive Alan Delmonte said: “We are very pleased to publish the Business Plan. The Board agreed it during 2022 but decided to hold off its public release until there was more stability following the economic effects of Covid.

“HBLB is a small but busy organisation which has a significant reach, with its collection and distribution of £90m to £100m a year involving close working relationships with the Racing and Betting industries. As an Arm’s Length Body (ALB) of Government, we also have responsibilities to Parliament and Government which necessarily place requirements upon us as a public body in the way that we operate and manage the funds under our control.

“The Business Plan sets out in one place the key areas of activity and focus that we have identified for the period ahead, recognising as always that there will be new items that arise that we will address with Racing, Betting and Government. It is a further commitment by HBLB to transparency in our operation and we will regularly provide an update on performance against the plan.”

For further information, please contact Levy Board Chief Executive Alan Delmonte on 07931 701536.