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Autumn Budget 2021

On 27 October 2021, alongside the publication of the government's comprehensive spending review, the Chancellor will announce the details of his second budget of 2021. Read ICAEW's analysis and reaction.

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ICAEW analysis

Analysis from ICAEW's experts on the Autumn Budget 2021 and the comprehensive spending review published on 27 October 2021.
Analysis from ICAEW's experts on the Autumn Budget 2021 and the comprehensive spending review published on 27 October 2021.
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Analysis from ICAEW's experts on the Autumn Budget 2021 and the comprehensive spending review published on 27 October 2021.
ICAEW reaction

A Budget full of fizz but many questions to answer

ICAEW experts have welcomed an Autumn Budget containing measures to tackle some of the UK’s immediate challenges, but with inflation and living costs rising the fizz could go flat very quickly.
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Public sector

Tough choices facing public finance

More tax, more investment, more spending, less borrowing. ICAEW’s Public Sector experts examine the Spending Review and Autumn Budget 2021 announcements.
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Tax

An awesome performance, but few tax measures

ICAEW’s Head of Tax on the Budget, which despite announcements on business rates, R&D tax relief and a promise of future tax cuts, provided more political spectacle than detailed tax policy.
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Business

Autumn Budget 2021: small wins for business, but a lack of ‘wow’

The measures outlined in the Budget’s speech are welcome, but do little to address immediate cost and supply chain pressures.
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Latest...

Chart of the week: Budget 2025 debt blues
  • Article
  • 05 Dec 2025
Our chart this week illustrates how despite being a “tax-raising Budget”, the cumulative net effect of all the changes announced last week is to add £61bn to the public sector net debt forecast for 31 March 2030.
Budget expected to have negative impact on businesses, says ICAEW
  • Article
  • 04 Dec 2025
An ICAEW poll has found that close to three-quarters of respondents agreed the Budget would negatively impact their organisation.
Exclusive The Budget and spending – a new direction?
  • Article
  • 03 Dec 2025
Ros Rowe assesses the impact of the Budget proposals on construction and real estate.
Autumn Budget 2025: what it means for charities
  • Article
  • 03 Dec 2025
The 2025 Autumn Budget, delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, has prompted a mixed response across the charity sector. While some measures offer practical help for organisations and the communities they support, many of the structural pressures charities face remain unchanged or have intensified.
Taxpayers reminded to ensure returns are correct and complete
  • Article
  • 03 Dec 2025
Following the publication of guidance earlier this year, HMRC is asking wealthy taxpayers to ensure that any legal interpretation applied in a tax return or other document sent to HMRC is "correct in both fact and law”.
Budget: New loan charge settlement opportunity
  • Article
  • 02 Dec 2025
The government has said it will accept almost all of Ray McCann’s recommendations for a new settlement opportunity and go further by writing off the first £5,000 of debt, in the hope that this will give individuals “a path to resolution”.
Budget 2025 announcements you may have missed
  • Article
  • 02 Dec 2025
ICAEW’s Tax Faculty provides a summary of some of the Autumn Budget 2025 measures that didn’t make the headlines, from changes to tax relief for homeworkers to proposals for companies to report payments made to participators.
Companies first to be contacted about direct recovery of debts
  • Article
  • 01 Dec 2025
ICAEW understands that some companies have received letters warning that HMRC may consider recovering funds it is owed directly from the company’s bank or building society accounts, with more to follow.

Insights special: Public sector finances

The coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on the health of the general public and on public sector finances. ICAEW Insights investigates the shape of government finances, in the UK and internationally.

Read more
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Public sector

Spending Review leaves inflationary sting in local authorities
  • Article
  • 29 Oct 2021
A relatively large increase in central government funding for local authorities is likely to be offset by a below-inflation council tax rise next year. Further cuts may be needed to balance the books in local authorities facing rising costs on top of low reserves.
A trillion-pound Autumn Budget driven by tax and spending
  • Article
  • 28 Oct 2021
The Chancellor used tax rises to start repairing the public finances but spending pressures could derail his hopes for a pre-election tax giveaway in 2023 or 2024.
Chart of the week: Spending Review 2021
  • Article
  • 28 Oct 2021
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak found some extra money to supplement the Spending Review 2021, turning a very tough settlement for government departments into a moderately tough one.
Tough choices facing public finance
  • Article
  • 27 Oct 2021
More tax, more investment, more spending, less borrowing. ICAEW’s Public Sector experts examine the Spending Review and Autumn Budget 2021 announcements.
What is the Spending Review and Autumn Budget all about?
  • Article
  • 26 Oct 2021
Today’s Spending Review and Autumn Budget is one of the most important occasions for any Chancellor of the Exchequer, but there is a lot to grasp. We attempt to demystify what is going on with this brief explainer.
Chart of the week: Pre-Spending Review departmental spending
  • Article
  • 21 Oct 2021
Our chart this week looks at the core departmental resource budgets that are central to next Wednesday’s long-awaited Spending Review.
Use Spending Review to establish a "financial platform for delivery"
  • Article
  • 12 Oct 2021
Alison Ring, Director for Public Sector at ICAEW, has written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury ahead of Spending Review 2021 expressing ICAEW’s view that it should be centred on the three key themes of stable funding, fiscal resilience and financial capability.
Chart of the week: capital investment before the Spending Review
  • Article
  • 30 Sep 2021
Given that capital budgets are often the first to be cut when money is tight, will the planned growth in capital investment survive the Spending Review later this month?

Tax

Tax Faculty analysis of Autumn Budget 2021
  • Helpsheets and support
  • 02 Nov 2021
ICAEW's Tax Faculty provides a comprehensive summary of the announcements on tax and related matters in the Budget on 27 October.
Limited additional funding for HMRC in Spending Review
  • Article
  • 28 Oct 2021
HMRC’s Spending Review 2021 settlement will see its spending, excluding that ringfenced for COVID-19, increase to £5.2bn per year by 2024/25. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains how HMRC might prioritise the £0.9bn funding increase on its 2019/20 settlement.
An awesome performance, but few tax measures
  • Article
  • 27 Oct 2021
ICAEW’s Head of Tax on the Budget, which despite announcements on business rates, R&D tax relief and a promise of future tax cuts, provided more political spectacle than detailed tax policy.
Budget confirms one-year delay to basis period reform
  • Article
  • 27 Oct 2021
The government has announced that reforms to the taxation of unincorporated businesses (known as ‘basis period reform’) will go ahead as planned, although implementation has been pushed back to 2024.
Budget aims to boost UK’s attractiveness to business
  • Article
  • 27 Oct 2021
A number of measures announced in the Autumn Budget are designed to make the UK a more attractive place to do business. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty outlines the key tax-related measures, including changes to R&D reliefs and enabling companies to move their place of incorporation to the UK.
Chancellor cuts universal credit taper rate
  • Article
  • 27 Oct 2021
Following criticism after the COVID-related uplift to universal credit was removed at the start of the month, Rishi Sunak used the Autumn Budget to announce changes to the taper rate and working allowance to increase support for recipients.
CGT reporting deadline for property sales extended
  • Article
  • 27 Oct 2021
Following calls from ICAEW the government has confirmed that many taxpayers will now have twice as much time to report and pay capital gains tax after selling property in the UK.
Use Budget to speed up tax modernisation, says ICAEW
  • Article
  • 05 Oct 2021
Writing to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, ICAEW’s Tax Faculty has called for the Autumn Budget to accelerate work to build a modern tax system. While urging a “manageable pace” of transition, it cautions against implementing tax changes without consultation, such as the new Health and Social Care Levy.

Letters to the government

Ahead of each Budget ICAEW writes to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Read the letters in full.
ICAEW letter to the Chancellor ahead of Autumn Budget 2021
  • Representation
  • 18 Oct 2021
  • PDF (113kb)
ICAEW's CEO Michael Izza has written to the Chancellor arguing that the Autumn Budget 2021 is an opportunity to set the UK on the path to the fullest possible economic and environmental recovery – one which levels up all parts of the country, tackling entrenched regional inequalities to build strong and sustainable local economies.
ICAEW REP 95/21 Autumn Budget 2021 representations - Building a modern tax system
  • Representation
  • 04 Oct 2021
  • PDF (248kb)
A response dated 5 October 2021 to a consultation published by HMT on 30 September 2021, including ICAEW’s Tax Faculty customary pre-Budget letter to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. It calls for the acceleration of work to build a modern tax system, while urging a “manageable pace” of transition, it cautions against implementing tax changes without consultation, such as the new Health and Social Care Levy.

Budget webinar

The Tax Faculty team and volunteers reflected on the Chancellor's announcements in this essential webinar recorded on 2 November. Watch the recording to hear the discussion and find out what the Autumn Budget 2021 could mean for you and your clients.

Watch now
Analysis from ICAEW's experts on the Autumn Budget 2021 and the comprehensive spending review published on 27 October 2021.