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Autumn Budget 2026: What It Means for Small Businesses (and Grants)

By GrantMatch team

Business rates relief up to £18,000, a £3,000 trading allowance, a Young Entrepreneurs Allowance and help for farms and energy costs. What the 28 October Budget means for small firms.

The Chancellor, John Healey, delivered his first Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026. For small businesses, sole traders and farms, the headlines are lower business rates for many high street firms, a bigger tax-free trading allowance, help with energy and fuel costs, and new support for young and women founders. There is no new national small business grant. Here is what was announced and where to look for funding you can apply for now.

Updated 29 October 2026 from the Chancellor's speech as delivered. We will add detail from the full Budget documents once we have read them.

Business rates for shops, cafés and gyms

The Small Business Rate Relief threshold for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses goes up "from £12,000 to £18,000". In the Chancellor's words, that takes "70,000 more businesses" out of business rates altogether, so "half of our shops, restaurants and gyms pay no business rates at all".

Other firms in these sectors will see their rates frozen "in real terms so that none face an above-inflation rise for the next two years". This comes on top of the 20% cut for "pubs, clubs and music venues from April next year" announced earlier. Adult gaming centres and vape shops are carved out of these reliefs.

Starting up: trading allowance and young founders

  • Trading allowance tripled. The amount you can earn from a new venture tax-free rises "from £1,000 to £3,000".
  • Young Entrepreneurs Allowance. A new allowance "which will cover a year of living costs for young founders". The speech didn't give dates or eligibility.
  • Women founders. A new scale-up programme for female founders, and the British Business Bank will "double its commitments to women-led businesses and funds to £200m".
  • Paid parental leave. Self-employed fathers and partners become eligible "for the first time".

Energy, fuel and running costs

  • Electricity for industry. The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme "will take 25% off electricity bills for 10,000 firms at the heart of British industry", going live in April with backdated payments for this year.
  • Fuel. The 5p Fuel Duty cut and the lower red diesel rate are extended "through the winter and spring to July", which the Chancellor said supports "households, hauliers, and farmers".
  • Mileage. The higher mileage rate rises "from 25p to 35p per mile".
  • Small brewers. A "£10m alcohol duty relief for around 2000 small British brewers and British cider makers".
  • Wages. The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rise "by 3.9%", a cost to plan for if you employ staff.

Tax changes to know about

  • The first-year allowance for main rate assets rises "from 40% to 50%", while the main writing down allowance falls "from 14% to 12%".
  • The Business Asset Disposal Relief threshold falls "from £1m to £500,000".
  • Tax on income from property and savings rises "by a further two percentage points from April 2027".
  • A new Founder's Relief gives "a 10% rate on lifetime gains of up to £10m" for founders of the most successful firms.

Talk to your accountant before acting on any of these. The rules will be in the Budget documents and later legislation.

Investment and local funding

The Budget adds "a further £20.4bn for the National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank over the coming years". Locally, there are new "Good Growth Funds for Mayors, and incubator capital for areas without Mayors", and a plan for "100% of business rates" to be "retained locally by the end of the decade". Named projects include "£10m for a new market hall in Stafford" and "£10m for Bury's indoor market". Over time, more business support should be designed and paid for locally, so keep an eye on your council and combined authority.

What it means for grants

None of these measures is a grant you can apply for today, and existing grant schemes keep their own deadlines. So don't wait for the detail before applying. Grants open now:

Our guide to small business grants in the UK explains who funds what. If you run a charity or community group, read what the Budget means for charities.

Questions people ask

Is there a new grant for small businesses in the Budget? No national grant was announced in the speech. The support comes mainly through business rates, tax allowances and energy costs, plus finance through the British Business Bank.

When does the business rates change start? The speech didn't give a start date for the new £18,000 threshold. Check the Budget documents or your council.

Who can get the Young Entrepreneurs Allowance? The speech said it is for young founders, covering a year of living costs. Eligibility hasn't been published yet.

See grants that match your business, free. Create a free GrantMatch account, tell us what you do and where, and we'll show the open grants you're eligible for, with alerts when new ones appear.

Figures and quotes come from the Chancellor's speech on 28 October 2026. The government may change the detail as it publishes guidance, so always check GOV.UK before you act.