What the Chancellor needs to announce in the budget next week

CREATED BY ROGER EDDOWES Published: 20/11/2025 @ 09:00AM #Chancellor #AutumnBudget2025 #UKEconomy #BusinessGrowth #TaxPolicy #SmallBusiness

The Chancellor is set to announce the Autumn Budget 2025 next week. What do I feel she needs to announce to make it a credible plan for businesses to see? It should certainly protect investment and avoid blunt tax hikes ...

Chancellor needs to announce, In the budget, plans abound, Economy's fate

The coming Autumn Budget 2025 will define whether Britain chooses momentum or drift, and the Chancellor needs to announce a disciplined plan that stops chasing revenue at the expense of confidence.

Everyone can see the bind she is in!

Record spending, rising borrowing, massive interest payments, and a tax take smothering energy from the real economy. The starting point is to anchor a new social contract with businesses - investment protection, easing costs, growth backing, predictable taxes, small business support - so any decisions announced next week increase capacity rather than simply harvest cash for the Treasury.

• The first pillar should be investment protection across public and private channels, because nothing crowds in capital like stability. Reversing the most damaging cuts to business relief for growth markets would help smaller quoted firms raise money without punitive frictions. A clear, decade-long assurance on remaining reliefs would reduce the risk premium that currently stalls flotations and secondary raises.
• The second pillar is to ease costs when cumulative policy burdens have become self-defeating. Retailers, already grappling with higher energy and logistics bills, need certainty that larger premises will not be trapped in a punitive business rates band that erodes margins and jobs. A focused rates recalibration for shops, combined with a freeze on regressive VAT moves, would keep prices steadier for consumers and help avoid another inflationary pulse.
• The third pillar demands growth backing through planning and infrastructure delivery. Faster approvals for energy, logistics, and housing projects would release stalled private capital and reduce build costs. Ringfencing resources for case officers, setting service standards for decisions, and publishing a realistic pipeline would show that time is money and that time will no longer be wasted.
• The fourth pillar is predictable taxes that do not throttle strategic sectors. Banking and gaming should not be soft targets for short-term windfalls when the long-term effect is capital flight or shop closures. A stable tax horizon, published with a three-year 'no surprises' framework, would bring the UK's effective burden closer to competitor financial centres without sacrificing fairness.
• The fifth pillar is small business support, which is where job creation actually happens. Extending full expensing certainty, simplifying R&D claims for genuine innovators, and setting a single digital window for grants and apprenticeships would reduce admin drag. Pair that with targeted skills funding to unblock chronic shortages - from planning officers to advanced manufacturing technicians - and every pound spent will multiply through the economy.

For both businesses and consumers, energy policies must align with capital discipline. A pragmatic route to net zero should prioritise grid upgrades, flexible generation, and permitting reform over ever-rising levies. Stable carbon pricing with a clear floor-and-ceiling band would let firms hedge their decisions without fear of policy whiplash.

The Chancellor needs to announce that decarbonisation
will be investment-led, not penalty-led!

And finally, households need breathing space to sustain demand without reigniting inflation. Keeping thresholds coherent, resisting stealth freezes, and focusing on targeted relief for working families would maintain spending power where it matters most.

That, in turn, supports local high streets and the services ecosystem around them. The Chancellor needs to announce in the budget a coherent, medium-term fiscal path that chooses growth through investment protection, easing costs, growth backing, predictable taxes, and small business support.

And that means turning caution into confidence, and confidence into jobs.

Until next time ...

ROGER EDDOWES
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About Roger Eddowes ...
Roger trained at Edward Thomas Peirson & Sons in Market Harborough before working at Hartwell & Co, followed by Chancery, as a partner. He started Essendon Accounts and Tax with Helen Beaumont in 2014 as a general practitioner with a hands-on approach. Roger loves getting his hands dirty, working with emerging, small-to-medium and family businesses to ensure they receive the best possible accountancy advice. Roger utilises an extensive network of business contacts to leverage the best guidance and practical solutions.

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