Autumn Budget 2026: techUK Submission to HM Treasury

30 Sep 2026 10:37 AM

The Autumn Budget 2026 is the first real test of business confidence in the incoming administration, and the first moment where trust between business and government could be either built or broken. In preparing this submission, techUK has engaged heavily with our over 1,100 member companies, representing a wide range of technologies, every nation and region of the UK, and businesses both big and small.  

Our members’ primary ask for this Budget is simple: first and foremost, do no harm.  

techUK calls on the government to commit to no additional business taxes for the remainder of this parliament. In recent years the tech sector - and the wider business community - has borne the costs of increases to employer NICs announced at Autumn Budget 2024, reforms to business rates multipliers announced at Autumn Budget 2025, as well as spiralling energy prices and inflation.  

techUK polling from 2026 highlights that 56% of tech businesses say that the UK1s business environment - including the tax burden - makes it challenging to expand their business. More than a quarter of tech businesses raise concerns that the UK’s business environment has got worse in the past year, making it even harder for them to operate.  

techUK’s members recognise the fiscal constraints facing the government - in order to be fiscally credible, the pledge of no additional taxes would need to be buttressed by a commitment to rein in day-to-day public spending, such as through reforms to welfare and the triple lock. This would go a long way towards restoring the confidence of the tech sector, prompting techUK’s members to increase spending, investment and hiring - thereby sowing the seeds of future economic growth.  

Building on the above, techUK’s members consistently highlight the importance of stability and predictability to their business and investment plans. They need the certainty that long-term projects such as the Corporation Tax Roadmap 2024 and Industrial Strategy 2025 remain relevant. Ultimately, they need to know that when government says something, it is willing and able to see it through. Only through results and continued delivery will trust between government and business be rebuilt and renewed. This Budget is the first major opportunity to begin this work. 

The only long-term solution to fixing the country’s fiscal foundations, improving public services and enhancing living standards is through economic growth. As a result, the government must also use this Budget to double down on the parts of the economy that drive growth in every nation and region of the UK. 

In every area of the country, tech is vital to realising that growth. The UK tech sector is one of the UK's true modern success stories, with a market capitalisation of almost £1 trillion, employing over 2.5 million people across every UK nation and region, and a GVA of over £200 billion, in addition to unlocking growth and productivity improvements across other sectors of the economy.  

Therefore, this Budget must also invest in six areas that will accelerate tech-enabled growth: 

• Harness technology to strategically reindustrialise Britain 
• Develop the workforce of the future 
• Keep the UK at the forefront of innovation 
• Build a smarter state 
• Bolster the UK's sovereignty, security and long-term resilience 
• Unlock capital and enable enterprise 

In summary, techUK’s members need this Budget to provide them with stability and targeted support. They need to know that government will not look to tax them further, while supporting them to invest, whether that is to hire more staff, upgrade their own networks and infrastructure, or launch new innovative products and services to the benefit of the whole economy.  

Summary: techUK’s Submission at a Glance

Objective 1: Harness technology to strategically reindustrialise Britain 

• Reform energy levies, which now make up almost two-thirds of the average SME energy bill, and accelerate electricity grid connection speeds, moving them into general taxation by 2029.  
• Support technology adoption among SMEs in the 8 Industrial Strategy sectors (the IS-8) through new support mechanisms that pair financial assistance with impartial expert advice, with a focus on expanding a firm’s productive capability. 
• Underpin reindustrialisation with superfast and reliable connectivity, particularly through recommitting to full funding of Project Gigabit and reforming Annual Licence Fees, which undermine operators’ abilities to invest in upgrading their networks.

Objective 2: Develop the workforce of the future 

• Lower the cost of early career hiring through a strategic NICs reduction for under 25s, ensuring employers pay no National Insurance Contributions for employees under 25 until their earnings exceed £967 per week.  
• Reduce the costs of the Skilled Worker Visa to strengthen the UK’s access to global talent, and specifically further consult with industry on lowering the general salary threshold from £41,700 to a level that does not penalise businesses outside of London and the South East.  
• Boost in-work training, including courses in AI, via accelerating reforms to the Growth and Skills Levy. Finalising the levy-eligible training course list without further delay and including courses on digital skills such as AI and cyber will help to build the workforce of the future.   

Objective 3: Keep the UK at the forefront of innovation 

• Introduce an open-source AI investment credit to lower the effective cost and risk of open-source AI development in the UK, offering for example a corporation tax deduction or credit.  
• Build trust in AI through continued delivery of the trusted third-party assurance roadmap, and multi-year funding for the AI Security Institute (AISI) combined with a commitment to maintain AISI’s remit where it currently sits.  
• Take advantage of new ministerial structures within BIST to ensure that public innovation funding is joined up and more impactful with a focus on minimising duplication and strengthening collaboration.  

Objective 4: Build a smarter state 

• Set out further details for funding allocated to the NHS 10-Year Plan, including a delivery plan that provides clarity over how it will be implemented alongside wider NHS reforms.  
• Give councils clarity and ring-fenced transitional funding for digital, data and cyber as part of future Local Government Reorganisation plans to ensure that vital digital upgrades and tackling legacy IT do not lose out to more immediate funding pressures.  
• Reform procurement and commercial processes to enable innovative suppliers, particularly SMEs and scale-ups, to scale successful technologies across the public sector, including through increased market certainty and co-designing of contracts.  

Objective 5: Bolster the UK's sovereignty, security and long-term resilience 

• Fully fund the Defence Investment Plan, translating its commitments into programmes of record with clear routes to market, and set out a pathway towards 3% of GDP on defence, giving industry clarity over how this will be met.  
• Adopt a confident approach to sovereignty that incentivises investment in the UK, bolsters state capacity and strengthens the UK’s strategic capabilities.  
• Introduce a cyber resilience allowance such as a capped reduction in VAT on qualifying products and services to encourage businesses to invest in cyber resilience.  

Objective 6: Unlock capital and enable enterprise 

• Increase flows of capital to small and scaling businesses by extending the age limits on EIS and VCT investment schemes and restoring the VCT income tax relief to 30%. 
• Incentivise greater amounts of domestic capital into UK equities, in particular by removing policies that act as disincentives such as the 0.5% stamp duty reserve tax on UK-listed shares, and introduce further positive incentives for domestic institutional investment.   
• Reduce administrative burden through structured roadmaps for corporate digital identity and e-invoicing. 
• Reform online platform trading rules and increase the trading allowance to enable more casual selling.  
• Reform the Video Game Expenditure Credit (VGEC), introducing a new ‘games growth’ rate targeted at smaller studios.  

Next Steps 

After the Budget, techUK will be hosting a members-only webinar to analyse the announcements and discuss what they mean for tech. To join this, please sign up here.  

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