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Autumn Budget 2025

On 26 November 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver the Autumn Budget, accompanied by a forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Read ICAEW's reaction and analysis.

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Alan Vallance, ICAEW Chief Executive
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Insights

The Chancellor’s speech: can Reeves deliver growth and raise taxes?

If business tax rises are inevitable, they must at least be phased in over time if we don’t want to stifle growth, says ICAEW.
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Insights

NICs for LLPs: a policy that risks shrinking the tax base, not growing it

This week I wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to express ICAEW’s concern about reports that the government may apply a charge equivalent to employer national insurance contributions (NICs) to members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs).
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Economy

Business confidence hits three-year low

A record 60% of firms are worried about the tax burden, a tenfold increase over the last five years, according to ICAEW’s latest Business Confidence Monitor.
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Insights

No increases in business taxation or no growth, warns ICAEW

ICAEW’s Chief Executive Alan Vallance is calling on the government to act now to support growth, arguing that there should be no new business taxes or increases in existing taxes this parliament.
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Podcast

Tax returns and Finance Bill concerns

In this episode of The Tax Track, we look ahead to the 2024/25 tax return season, highlighting areas to watch out for, and explain our concerns with draft legislation for Finance Bill 2025/26 that promises to make significant changes to the tax system, particularly for agents.
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Insights and news

The Chancellor’s speech: can Reeves deliver growth and raise taxes?
  • Article
  • 05 Nov 2025
If business tax rises are inevitable, they must at least be phased in over time if we don’t want to stifle growth, says ICAEW.
House of Lords highlights concerns with Finance Bill legislation
  • Article
  • 03 Nov 2025
Having heard evidence on the draft legislation for Finance Bill 2025-26, including legislation providing for IHT reform, the House of Lords has questioned the government on its proposals to clamp down on promoters of tax avoidance schemes.
Economic update: why the Budget is casting a long shadow over the UK economy
  • Article
  • 24 Oct 2025
The UK economy struggles to grow in October. Business confidence continues to fall amid record high concerns over tax ahead of next month’s Budget. ICAEW’s Economies Director Suren Thiru discusses the implications, what you need to know about current economic conditions and key points to watch.
Government deficit hits £100bn in the first half of the financial year
  • Article
  • 22 Oct 2025
Revisions and corrections help reduce the budget overrun to £7bn for the six months to September 2025, but the outlook remains bleak.
ICAEW member insights October 2025: mixed bag for manufacturing
  • Article
  • 30 Oct 2025
Members expressed views in line with the latest Business Confidence Monitor results, though there were some small positive signs in specific sectors.
Jobs and investment at risk if business taxes increase, warns ICAEW
  • Article
  • 17 Oct 2025
More than half of business leaders surveyed by ICAEW said they would freeze recruitment or cut roles if the Chancellor announces tax increases next month.
Business confidence hits three-year low
  • Article
  • 09 Oct 2025
A record 60% of firms are worried about the tax burden, a tenfold increase over the last five years, according to ICAEW’s latest Business Confidence Monitor.
No increases in business taxation or no growth, warns ICAEW
  • Article
  • 30 Sep 2025
ICAEW’s Chief Executive Alan Vallance is calling on the government to act now to support growth, arguing that there should be no new business taxes or increases in existing taxes this parliament.

Autumn Budget webinar

The Chancellor will deliver the Autumn Budget on 26 November 2025, accompanied by a forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). In this webinar on 28 November, the Tax Faculty will be discussing the key tax updates and sharing insight and analysis about how these changes may affect you or your clients.

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Tax

Business Confidence Monitor

ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor
  • Hub page
Quarterly reports on the economy which provide useful insight for finance professionals and their clients.
UK Business Confidence Monitor: National
  • Report
The latest national Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) shows that business sentiment deteriorated further into negative territory in Q3 2025. This increased pessimism is underpinned by elevated concern over the tax burden as well as above-average inflation, and weak domestic and exports sales growth eroding businesses’ profit margins.

Charts

Chart of the week: tax burden rising
  • Article
  • 17 Oct 2025
Our chart this week shows how tax receipts as a proportion of national income have risen significantly since the turn of the century, begging the question as to whether taxes are too high or the UK economy is too small?
Chart of the week: the cost of (government) borrowing
  • Article
  • 10 Oct 2025
Our chart this week looks at the cost of government borrowing by country based on 10-year government bond yields.
Chart of the week: GDP revisions
  • Article
  • 03 Oct 2025
Our chart this week looks at how a large upward revision in GDP for 2024/25 translates into a relatively modest 0.1 percentage point increase in economic growth per year since the pandemic.
Chart of the week: Productivity
  • Article
  • 26 Sep 2025
Our chart this week looks at how productivity growth has slowed significantly over the past quarter of a century and asks what can be done to turn it around.
Chart of the week: Employment costs
  • Article
  • 11 Sep 2025
Our chart this week looks at how employment costs in June 2025 have risen by 4.8% compared with the same month last year, adding to the expense of doing business in the UK.
Chart of the week: Business growth
  • Article
  • 05 Sep 2025
Our chart this week asks whether the recent low rate of growth in numbers of businesses registered for PAYE and VAT is linked to the increasing difficulty of doing business in the UK.

Economy explainers

Economy explainers: how is property taxed?
  • Article
  • 23 Oct 2025
Taxes on transactions in, and income from, land and buildings are a frequent topic for pre-Budget speculation. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains the rules currently in place for taxing property.
Economy explainers: what is VAT?
  • Article
  • 17 Oct 2025
Did you know that £1 in every £5 of tax collected by the government is VAT? ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains how VAT works, the problems with the current system and what could be done to improve it.
Economy explainers: e-invoicing
  • Article
  • 16 Oct 2025
The UK government is considering how to promote the wider use of e-invoicing across businesses and government departments. ICAEW's experts explain what it is and its implications for businesses.

Backing business-led growth

Drawing on members expertise and our research, ICAEW is offering policymakers advice on how to tackle the three key barriers to growth.

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Further resources

Resources
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Economy

Expert analysis on the latest national and international economic issues and trends, and interviews with prominent voices across the finance industry alongside data on the state of economy.

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

ICAEW experts offer simple guides to help understand the technical, economic jargon that is discussed when talking about public finances and the economy.

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Policy and public affairs
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Developing policy in the public interest

See the latest work from ICAEW's Public Affairs and Policy Teams to influence policy in the public interest. Read news and insights relating to our political engagement work at a regional, national and international level.

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