Autumn Budget 2026 Confirmed for 28 October: What Bury Businesses Should Check Now

A date, at last

After weeks of speculation, HM Treasury has confirmed the Autumn Budget will be delivered on Wednesday 28 October 2026, with the Office for Budget Responsibility publishing its economic forecast alongside it. For business owners who like to plan rather than guess, that gives us just under six weeks of certainty about the calendar, even if the contents of the red box are still under wraps.

It's worth separating two very different things at this point: changes that are already confirmed and taking effect on a published date, and changes that are being predicted or rumoured by commentators. Only one of those two categories should influence what you actually do with your money before the Budget.

What's already locked in

These aren't Budget predictions - they're changes already announced and, in some cases, already in force:

• Dividend tax is already up. The rate on dividend income rose by 2 percentage points from 6 April 2026. If you're a director taking a mix of salary and dividends, this is already affecting this year's figures, not a future one.

• Income tax and National Insurance thresholds are frozen until April 2031. As wages rise with inflation, more income keeps being pulled into higher tax bands - the so-called fiscal drag effect. It's a slow, quiet increase in the tax take rather than a headline-grabbing one.

• VAT is coming off electricity bills from 1 October 2026 - a rare bit of near-term relief, and useful for any business budgeting energy costs into the final quarter of the year.

• Further changes are already pencilled in for 2027/28, including a reduction in the cash ISA allowance, a rise in tax on savings interest, an increase in tax on rental income for landlords, and unused pension pots being brought into the scope of inheritance tax. None of these need action today, but they're worth knowing about if you're planning further ahead - particularly if you hold rental property or are weighing up pension versus other savings.

What's still just speculation

Plenty of pre-Budget commentary is doing the rounds about income tax rates, capital gains tax reform, and other measures. None of it is confirmed, and some of it is contradictory from one source to the next. Our advice is the same every year: don't restructure your affairs, sell an asset, or change a pension contribution on the strength of a newspaper prediction. Wait for the actual announcement on 28 October, then act on what's real.

What to check before 28 October

Regardless of what the Budget contains, these are worth doing with the weeks you've got, using this year's confirmed allowances while they still apply:

• Review your salary versus dividend split for the current tax year, now that the higher dividend rate is in effect

• Use your £3,000 annual Capital Gains Tax exemption and £20,000 ISA allowance before they're gone for the year

• Check pension contributions against your annual allowance, especially if you're weighing up further contributions ahead of any 2027/28 changes

• If you're a landlord, take stock of your current rental income tax position so you're not caught out by the 2027/28 increase

• Put 28 October in the diary so you're not relying on headlines the next morning to find out what's changed

Our take

Budgets tend to generate more noise than substance in the weeks beforehand, and this one looks no different. The sensible approach for most Bury and Greater Manchester small businesses is to make full use of what's confirmed for this tax year, note what's already scheduled for 2027/28, and otherwise sit tight until 28 October. We'll cover the actual announcements - not the predictions - in a follow-up post once the Chancellor has sat down.

If you'd like a quick pre-Budget review of your own position, get in touch with the team at Jackson Lee Accountants.