How to Prepare Your Business for the Autumn Budget: A Practical Checklist for SMEs

Nobody knows exactly what the Autumn Budget will contain. But the fiscal context — a significant deficit, high gilt yields, and pressure on public spending — makes it likely that some combination of tax rises and spending adjustments will affect small and medium-sized businesses. The time to review your position is before the announcements, not after.

This checklist covers the commercial property and premises-related decisions worth reviewing now.

Your lease

When does your lease expire or have a break clause? If you have a break clause in the next 12 months, you need to have made a decision about whether to exercise it before the notice deadline — not after. Break clauses are typically irrevocable once the notice period has passed. If you do not know your break date, find out now.

Is your lease due for rent review? Rent reviews are triggered by the lease, not by market conditions. If you have an upward-only rent review coming up, taking professional advice before the review date is essential. A surveyor acting for you in a rent review negotiation typically costs far less than accepting a rent increase you did not need to.

Are you outside your protected period? If your lease has less than one year to run and you have not received a Section 25 notice from your landlord, you have security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (if your tenancy is contracted in). Understand your position.

Your rates

Do you know your current rateable value? Check it on the Valuation Office Agency website (voa.gov.uk). Your bill is calculated from this figure.

Did your rateable value increase at the April 2026 revaluation? If so, do you have grounds to challenge it? A valid challenge requires evidence that the rateable value does not reflect open market rental value at the April 2021 valuation date. The window for challenge is open now.

Do you qualify for Small Business Rate Relief? If your rateable value is under £15,000 and you occupy only one property, check whether you are receiving the relief you are entitled to.

Are you receiving Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief? If you are eligible and not receiving it, contact your local authority.

Your employment costs

Have you modelled a further NIC increase? Run your payroll cost at current rates and at a 1–2% increase. Understand what the Budget impact would be before it is announced.

Are you planning to hire in the next six months? If so, consider whether the timing of that decision — before or after the Budget — affects the cost.

Your capital expenditure

Are you planning premises investment or fit-out? If so, understand which capital allowances apply to your expenditure (AIA, Full Expensing, SBA) and whether completing expenditure before a Budget date could be advantageous.

Have you spoken to your accountant? The interaction between capital allowances, your business structure, and any Budget changes is specific to your circumstances. This is not a decision to make without professional advice.

Your premises decision

Is your current space the right size and cost for your business as it is now — not as it was three years ago? Cost pressures from every direction — NICs, rates, energy, borrowing — make this the right moment to audit your total occupancy cost and ask whether your premises spend is correctly calibrated.

Are you getting value from your current location? If your customers, clients, or staff are no longer concentrated where your premises is, a better-located space at a similar or lower cost may be available.

Have you reviewed the market recently? The commercial property market in 2026 favours occupiers. Landlords are motivated, incentives are available, and new space is coming to market. If you have not tested the market in the last year, you may not know what your budget can now achieve.

RE:match makes it straightforward to find out what is available. Post a requirement — it takes a few minutes and costs nothing — and receive direct responses from landlords and agents with space that matches your brief. Start at rematch.co.uk.