Britain is facing persistently high youth vaping rates, which have doubled since 2021. This worrying trend has evolved faster than our current policies and prevention strategies can keep pace with. What is the next step for tackling youth vaping?
Despite new regulations like the proposed Tobacco and Vapes Bill and a ban on disposable vapes, young people continue to access vaping products. Restricting what’s visible or available on shop shelves is no longer enough in an age where products move freely through social networks, informal/illicit markets, and digital channels.
Tackling youth vaping: Prevalence and dependence
A deeper dive into this year’s Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) data tells us that among youth, 20% of 11–17-year-olds have tried vaping, an estimated 1.1 million, with 7% currently vaping and 3% vaping daily. These figures are obviously deeply concerning and have remained consistent since 2023, indicating a worrying lack of progress in reducing use among children. In addition, reported strength of addiction to vaping products has nearly doubled since 2020 with 44% of vapers reporting strong, very strong, or extremely strong urges to vape – potentially making it harder to stop vaping once they have started.
Smoking cessation or risk initiation
Whilst vaping is widely recognised as an adult smoking cessation tool, NHS data alarmingly reports that out of those who have ever tried vaping, 89% have never regularly smoked tobacco cigarettes. In fact, only 5% reported smoking tobacco before using vapes, decisively showing that youth vaping is not about smoking cessation. Since vaping is not risk free, this represents a concerning trend, with the majority of young users having no prior experience with tobacco.
Misperceptions out of line with evidence
According to King’s College London’s safety review in 2022, vaping is “substantially less harmful than smoking” with those switching from smoking to vaping experiencing substantial reductions in exposure to toxicants linked to cancer, lung, and heart disease. Despite this robust data, 63% of youth perceive vaping to be just as harmful, if not more harmful than smoking, and it may be no coincidence that there are now worrying signs that progress in reducing youth smoking may have stalled.
Traditional enforcement is falling short
With stubborn levels of youth prevalence and increased levels of dependence to vaping products, it has never been more urgent to tackle the issue head-on by implementing regulations that are fit for purpose. In order to do this, we need to map youth access to these products. If we look at the data, it clearly illustrates why “point-of-sale” enforcement is falling short.
While 46% of youth vapers say they buy from shops, a striking 76% source their products socially from friends or peers. Informal sharing, online orders, and peer-to-peer exchanges are now as prevalent as traditional retail channels. If 46% of youth vapers state that they are getting products from shops it is evident that firstly, age verification is not taking place and secondly, age verification at point-of-sale can no longer keep pace with how youth are sourcing products in the real world.
The case for ‘point-of-use’ age verification
The government’s 10-year health plan rightly identifies prevention and digital innovation as central to building a healthier Britain. But while its ambitions are clear, the plan needs to be matched with practical, future-proof action. This is where age verification at the “point-of-use”, such as the technology offered by IKE Tech, comes in, ensuring only those of legal age can actually activate and use a vaping device, no matter how it was acquired.
Vaping products are tech products, so it makes sense that technology provides the solution to preventing youth access. This technology needs to be secure and frictionless, with embedded continuous age checks that are easily linked to apps for supporting consumers to achieve their smoke-free goals.
Crucially, point-of-use age verification closes the loopholes left by point-of-sale checks, making it far harder for underage users to bypass restrictions, even if a device is obtained through informal means.
The challenges of the illicit market
Youth access is not the only worrying issue here. The rise of illicit, unregulated vaping products in the UK is a major concern (more so following the disposable vape ban), with Trading Standards seizing hundreds of thousands of illegal vapes in recent years which often bypass MHRA safety regulations. Recent testing of illicit vapes have found them to contain worrying levels of harmful metals such as lead, nickel and chromium, and higher than permitted levels of carbonyls and nicotine – posing serious health risks for all consumers.
This is another area where technological solutions such as smart authentication tags come into play, as it allows authorities to track and trace vaping products – making it easier to identify and remove illegal vapes from the market.
Closing the gap: The future of youth vaping prevention
Technology is only one part of a long-term, future-proof solution. Collaboration across manufacturers, retailers, regulators, educators, and public health is essential. Effective solutions require robust technological safeguards alongside clear, evidence-based education on the relative and absolute risks of vaping and smoking for both adults and young people.
Retailers need compliance tools, authorities require resources for enforcement, and the government must be able to efficiently use age verification technology. Current measures, such as point-of-sale checks and retail restrictions, have not addressed the complexity of youth vaping. So what’s left in the government’s arsenal?
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill outlines additional measures such as advertising bans and restrictions on packaging, point-of-sale displays, and flavours, with the hope that these measures will decrease the appeal of vapes. However, these may not be enough, as age verification is often bypassed and youth continue to access products, sometimes through the illicit market. If the Bill includes powers that facilitate age verification at point-of-use, the government, within its consultation process, could utilise this power in a way that would prevent underage access while maintaining easy access for adults, particularly those from vulnerable groups. In this way the government would increase its arsenal of solutions to futureproof their ability to tackle youth vaping.
Embedding point-of-use age verification, supported by innovative technology, smarter regulation, and cross-sector education, offers a path forward. By closing the gap between policy and reality, the sector can demonstrate its commitment to both responsible innovation and public health.
