Autumn Budget 2025: Key measures

For reaction from the sector to the Budget, click here.

SEND funding

• Extension of the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override and future  commitment for Government to assume responsibility for SEND spending – The government will set out substantial plans for reform of special educational needs provision early in the new year to deliver a sustainable system which supports children and families effectively. “The 2025 Spending Review provided investment for SEND reform. Future funding implications will be managed within the overall government DEL envelope, such that the government would not expect local authorities to need to fund future special educational needs costs from general funds, once the Statutory Override ends at the end of 2027-28. The government will set out further details on its plans to support local authorities with historic and accruing deficits and conditions for accessing such support through the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.”

Combined authority funding and devolution

• Visitor levy – The government will give Mayors in England powers to raise a visitor levy on overnight accommodation, and explore the option for this power to be extended to the leaders of other strategic authorities. The government is consulting on the design of the levy.
• Integrated settlements for Mayoral Strategic Authorities – Confirming at least £13 billion of Spending Review 2025 funding for Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, the North East, and the Greater London Mayoral Strategic Authorities for 2026-27 to 2029-30 through their integrated settlements. “This empowers Mayors with greater funding flexibility to drive growth in their regions.”
• Business rates retention – The government will extend the Greater London Authority enhanced BRR arrangements and the 100% pilots in Cornwall, the West of England and Liverpool City Region for a further three years, to 2028-29.
• Leeds City Fund (BRR zone) – Subject to business case, the government is supporting West Yorkshire Combined Authority by establishing the Leeds City Fund. This is a business rates retention (BRR) zone in Leeds city centre, within which Leeds City Council can retain 100% of business rates growth above an agreed baseline for 25 years.
• Wider BRR zones – The government is “improving” the BRR system to better support Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) to deliver growth. Options being considered include allocating MSAs a direct share of business rates, and an offer for MSAs to establish BRR zones, based on standardised criteria. “The government has already had early discussions with the Mayors of South Yorkshire, the West of England and the North East to explore options for BRR zones to support their local growth plans, and is open to discussions with other areas.”
• Place-based budget pilots – Launching five pilots with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to test how the pooling of public service budgets in local areas could break down siloes, unlock more funding for prevention and help deliver better outcomes for taxpayers. This is alongside working with Greater Manchester on its proposals to establish a ‘Prevention Demonstrator’, which includes looking at the potential of budget pooling locally.
• Local Growth Fund – The government will launch the Local Growth Fund for the Mayoral Strategic Authorities of Greater Manchester, North East, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, Greater Lincolnshire, Tees Valley, Hull & East Yorkshire, York & North Yorkshire and East Midlands. These strategic authorities will each receive a share of the £902 million over four years to invest in growth-driving interventions, including local infrastructure, business, and employment support and skills programmes.
• Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund – The government will provide a share of the £500 million Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund to the Mayoral Strategic Authorities of Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, North East, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. “The Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund is a strategic investment partnership which will see central government and Mayors sharing risk to overcome access to finance barriers in key city regions, accelerating investment, unlocking  development and boosting growth.”
• Growth Mission Fund – The government has allocated funding from the Growth Mission Fund to the following projects: £20 million to construct a sports quarter in Peterborough, £20 million for redevelopment of the Inchgreen dry docks in Inverclyde, and £16 million for the construction of a STEM centre in Darlington.
• Kernow Industrial Growth Fund – The government is establishing a £30 million fund to invest in Cornwall’s comparative sectoral advantages, including critical minerals, renewable energy and marine innovation, subject to a full business case.

Licensing

• Licensing sprint – The government will launch the first National Licensing Policy Framework at Budget, which will rebalance the licensing regime and support a modern licensing system. The government is also updating guidance to ensure relevant authorities consider the need to promote economic growth in their licensing decisions. “If these changes do not sufficiently improve licensing outcomes, the government will consider making statutory changes.”

Planning

• Retail, hospitality and leisure: Planning – “Building on the success of the licensing taskforce, we will explore further planning reforms to make it easier for hospitality and high street businesses to expand and grow.”
• Planning capacity and capability – The government will provide the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Defra £48 million over the next three years to boost capacity and capability in the planning system.

Housing

• Social rent convergence – “While the government remains committed to implementing Social Rent convergence, it is important to take the time to get the precise details right, taking account of the benefits to the supply and quality of social and affordable housing, the impact on rent payers and affordability.” The government will respond to the consultation in full, and announce a decision about how Social Rent convergence will be implemented in January 2026, before the launch of the SAHP. “The government also remains committed to the 10-year rent settlement for 2026-36 announced at SR25, which will permit social housing rents to increase by CPI+1% per annum.”
• Reducing the financial cliff edge for claimants in supported housing and temporary accommodation from Autumn 2026 – To improve work incentives, the government is adjusting how earnings are treated for Housing Benefit and Universal Credit claimants in supported housing and temporary accommodation, so that most claimants will not be subject to reductions in income for working more hours.

Council tax and business rates

• High Value Council Tax Surcharge – The government will introduce the High Value Council Tax Surcharge a new charge on owners of residential property in England worth £2 million or more, starting in 2028-29. Local authorities will collect this revenue on behalf of central government. Revenue will be used to support funding for local government services, with further detail to be set out at the next spending review. The government will consult on implementation of HVCTS in the new year.
• Business rates – From 1 April 2026, business rates bills in England will be updated to reflect changes in property values since the last revaluation in 2023. As a result of the revaluation, the small business multiplier will decrease from 49.9p in 2025-26 to 43.2p in 2026-27, and the standard multiplier will decrease from 55.5p to 48p. A package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years will support businesses as they transition to their new bills.

Decarbonisation

• Private finance for decarbonisation of the public sector estate – The government has confirmed it will consider private sources of finance – including Public Private Partnerships – to decarbonise the public sector estate (alongside or in place of government capital expenditure), where these offer value for money. HM Treasury will consider proposals based on business cases from relevant departments

Land Remediation Grant and Landfill Tax

• Land Remediation Grant – Funding for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to provide public bodies with grants to remediate land where landfill tax is an unaffordable blocker. This is expected to increase land available for development and other means, and lead to a net increase in remediation-associated landfill tax receipts.
• Landfill Tax Rates for 2026-27 – the government will increase the standard rate of Landfill Tax by RPI and the lower rate by the cash amount of the increase in the standard rate, maintaining the differential between the two rates in cash terms.
• Response to the consultation on reforms to Landfill Tax – The government will not proceed with transitioning to a single rate of tax by 2030 and will retain the exemption for quarries with disposal permits. The government has published a summary of responses that sets out its decisions on all the proposals included in the consultation.

Public sector fraud and value for money

• Public Authorities Fraud Investigation and Enforcement Service – The government will establish the Public Authorities Fraud Investigation and Enforcement Service by 2026-27, which will recruit skilled investigators to pursue recovery of fraud against the public sector; and trial “innovative approaches to enforcement activity for fraudulent Covid loans”.
• Reforms to the controls and accountabilities framework – Following a review by the Office for Value for Money, the government is reforming the public spending control and accountability framework to drive better value for money and enable the public sector to deliver the government’s priorities efficiently and effectively.

Infrastructure funding

• Accelerating capital investment – The government brought forward capital investment at SR25 to accelerate delivery of major infrastructure projects. Alongside, the Budget confirms investment in new schemes including £890 million for the Lower Thames Crossing.
• Local roads maintenance funding – By 2029-30, the government will commit over £2 billion annually for local authorities to repair, renew and fix potholes on their roads – doubling funding since coming into office. “This record level of funding will enable the government to exceed its manifesto commitment to fix an additional 1 million potholes per year by the end of the Parliament.”

Industrial Strategy Zones announcements (SWNI Freeports & Interest Zones (IZs))

• Investment zones and freeports – The government is approving the business cases for Flintshire & Wrexham Investment Zone, Anglesey Freeport, and Forth Green Freeport, and announcing the proposed sector, geography and co-investment for the Northern Ireland Enhanced Investment Zone.

Employment changes

• National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage increases – From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage will increase by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour. The National Minimum Wage for 18-20 year olds will also increase by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour and for 16-17 year olds and apprentices by 6.0% to £8.00 per hour. The accommodation offset will increase by 4.1% to £11.10 per day.

Trading Standards

• Additional funding to Trading Standards and law enforcement capabilities – The government is providing additional funding to enhance Trading Standards capabilities and fund an uplift of at least 45 additional law enforcement officers, "to support further action against organised criminality and money laundering on our high streets".
• High Streets Illegality Taskforce – The government is establishing a dedicated cross-government taskforce "to develop an intelligence-led understanding of organised crime in our high streets, design systemic interventions to disrupt money laundering and related criminality, and set strategic priorities for future operational activity".

Health

• NHS Neighbourhood Health Centres – The government is announcing plans for delivery of 250 new Neighbourhood Health Centres, of which 120 will be operational by 2030. "These will be delivered through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme through a combination of public sector investment and a new model of Public-Private Partnership."

Source: Autumn Budget 2025, HM Treasury.