Autumn Budget 2026

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey, delivered his maiden Budget today. 

The principal measures are set out in our full briefing which can be found here.

Set against a backdrop of elusive economic growth, stubbornly high inflation and increasing public debt, and with the constraints of the Government’s manifesto pledge not to increase National Insurance, rates of Income Tax or VAT for “working people”, the Chancellor had few options for significant revenue-raising measures. 

But tax revenue had to be found from somewhere, and in the short term, the Chancellor said he was “looking to our banks to help fund breathing space for British families”. A 3% increase to the Corporation Tax Surcharge on the profits of banks and building societies was thereby announced, albeit a temporary one that will run for 15 months from January 2027.

In the longer term, the Government’s aim is to support growth by encouraging entrepreneurs to locate start-ups and grow scale-up businesses in the UK. The key tax measure chosen to do this was the new Founders’ Relief, enabling eligible founders and early investors of high-growth, innovative companies to benefit from a reduced 10% rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on disposals of shares or securities meeting strict criteria, with a limit on lifetime gains of £10 million. The trade-off for the introduction of this new relief was a scaling back of Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR), with the £1 million lifetime limit reduced by half to £500,000.

The remaining measures in today’s Budget may be seen by some as ‘tinkering around the edges’ of the tax system, but on closer inspection, the Government’s announcements signalled some potentially fundamental and far-reaching changes, most notably for businesses.

In particular, the Government confirmed that it will introduce all measures proposed as part of its consultation on the reform of the long-standing tax rules on distributions, potentially bringing about fundamental changes to the taxation of common corporate structuring including share buybacks, demergers and returns of capital. Fortunately, the Government recognises the significance of these complex changes, which will not be introduced until April 2028, with further technical consultation to take place in the intervening period.

For the real estate sector, HMRC is consulting on the potential end of nearly a century of uncodified sovereign tax immunity in the UK, and its replacement with a modern, statutory regime from January 2029. For sovereign investors holding a direct investment in UK real estate (including via partnerships or other transparent structures), returns would come within scope of UK tax for the first time. To soften the blow, new reliefs will be provided, including a bespoke REIT holding company regime, but modelling and the consideration of alternative structures will be needed ahead of this potentially major change. 

For individuals, the Chancellor announced an increase to the new, separate rates of Income Tax payable on the receipt of income from property and savings, before these rates have even taken effect. Basic, higher and additional rate taxpayers will pay rates of 24%, 44% and 49% respectively on these sources of income from April 2027.

A fuller summary of the key tax announcements from today’s Budget is set out below, and further information and details of a number of these will be made available with publication of Finance Bill 2027, expected shortly.

A link to the Government’s Budget 2026 website and full Government documentation can be found here.