Founders' Relief and the BADR cut got the headlines from John Healey's first Budget.

Fair enough, they matter. But I've been through the rest of the Budget documents, and there's plenty in there that will hit owner managed businesses harder, even if nobody is writing headlines about it.

Here's what I'd want to know if I owned a business, was buying one or was building one to sell.

Building to Sell

The BADR lifetime limit halves to £500,000 for disposals from 6 April 2027. The rate went up to 18% in April, so the most BADR can now save you is £30,000. That's it.

From the same date, Founders' Relief taxes qualifying gains at 10%, up to £10m over your lifetime. The catch is the conditions. You need to have owned 25% of the shares when the company started trading (or started preparing to), held them for five years and been UK resident for five years. The company needs at least £10m of turnover and 15 full time employees. On top of that it has to pass two of three tests: turnover growing 25% a year compounded over three years, headcount doing the same, or £1.5m spent on R&D with R&D relief claimed. Most steady family businesses won't come close. The consultation closes on 30 November.

CSOP is being renamed EMI2. From April 2027 the limit per employee doubles to £120,000, and the £250,000 combined cap with EMI goes. A key hire could hold £250,000 of EMI options and £120,000 of EMI2 options on top. If you want your senior team still around when a buyer turns up, look at this.

What It'll Cost You to Run the Business

The National Living Wage goes to £13.21 an hour from April 2027. The rate for 18 to 20 year olds goes to £11.27, and for 16 and 17 year olds and apprentices to £8.31. Don't forget the knock on effect. When the floor moves, the people paid just above it expect to move too.

In England, small business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure premises will cover rateable values up to £18,000 from April 2027, up from £12,000. Larger retail, hospitality and leisure properties get rates frozen for two years. Vape shops and adult gaming centres lose their reliefs altogether.

About 10,000 energy intensive businesses get up to 25% off electricity when the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme starts in April 2027. If you already pay 5% VAT on electricity as a small business, you get the 0% rate too, now running to July 2027.

The 55p tax free mileage rate for the first 10,000 business miles is now permanent, and the rate above that goes from 25p to 35p. The 5p fuel duty cut lasts until July 2027.

From April 2027 R&D claimants no longer need to file a Claim Notification Form first, and HMRC will simplify the Additional Information Form from autumn 2027. Plenty of good claims have been lost to a missed notification deadline, so this one is welcome.

Getting Funding

The British Business Bank's capacity goes up by £5bn to £30.6bn. Within that, £1.4bn goes into equity funds for high growth businesses, £165m to community lenders and £450m into a new venture debt product. Venture debt is worth understanding if you're growing fast and don't want to give away more of your company.

Women led businesses get £200m from the British Business Bank, double what it was, plus a promised scale up programme. The trading allowance triples to £3,000 from April 2027, and a young entrepreneurs allowance covering a year's living costs is being piloted. We're still waiting on the detail for most of this.

Scale UK is a new single front door to government support for growing businesses. Its first pilot will help 200 high growth firms with advice and introductions to investors and overseas markets. To apply you need £2m or more of turnover or investment, and at least 10 people including the founders.

If you export, UK Export Finance has a new guarantee for SMEs, and its General Export Facility now covers new exporters, with guarantees of up to £15m.

Selling to Government

The government wants public money spent with British businesses. By January 2027 it will tighten what counts as a "UK supplier", so an overseas company with a UK postal address won't qualify. A new National Procurement Policy Statement follows in March. From 1 January 2027, social value (jobs, skills, chances for young people) gets scored on contracts over £1m. If you bid for public work, start writing that part of your bid properly.

HMRC

Most owners will skip this section. I wouldn't.

Your Team

The government has confirmed it will limit noncompete clauses in employment contracts, and will consult first. If noncompetes are how you protect your business today, start thinking about notice periods, confidentiality and equity instead. If you're buying a business that depends on a handful of key people, this matters to you too. The question I'll be pushing in the consultation is whether covenants given by sellers on a sale get caught.

Self employed fathers and partners get two weeks of statutory parental pay from April 2029.

Closer to Home

£285m of Good Growth Funds goes to mayors and local authorities in 2027 to 2028. Norfolk and Suffolk get £7.85m and Greater Essex £8.76m. Mayoral authorities keep 20% of business rates from April 2027, rising to 100% by the end of this Parliament. There's also £125m for derelict buildings and £65m to help communities save pubs, sports clubs and other businesses at risk of closing. As a football club director, I'll be watching where that last pot goes.

What I'd Do Now

Let's Talk

If any of this changes your plans to sell, raise or buy, get in touch with me at kevin.withane@impactlawyers.co.uk and we'll work through the numbers together.

General information based on the Budget published on 28 October 2026, not tax advice. Several measures are still subject to consultation and may change.