Chancellor John Healey’s first Autumn Budget, delivered on 28 October, was billed as a breathing-space Budget for small firms. Strip away the headlines and there are five changes every Havering business owner should have on the radar. Most of them land in April 2027, which gives you about five months to plan.

1. High street rates: the biggest local win

For retail, hospitality and leisure premises in England, the threshold for 100% Small Business Rates Relief rises from a rateable value of £12,000 to £18,000 from April 2027. Tapered relief will run up to £21,000, up from £15,000. Government says this takes more than 70,000 businesses out of rates altogether.

Retail, hospitality and leisure properties that don’t qualify get a two-year freeze on their bills from April 2027 to April 2029. Vape shops and adult gaming shops are excluded. Pubs, social clubs and most live music venues get a further 20% cut from April 2027, which was announced in July.

For Havering, with independent high streets in Romford, Hornchurch, Upminster, Elm Park and Harold Hill, this is the measure most likely to change a set of accounts. Article 3 in this series looks at it in detail.

2. The trading allowance triples

From 6 April 2027 the tax-free trading allowance rises from £1,000 to £3,000. If your side income is under £3,000 a year you will not need to register with HMRC or pay tax on it. Above that, you can deduct either the £3,000 allowance or your real costs, but not both.

That matters in a borough with a lot of side-hustlers: market traders, crafters, weekend tutors and people testing a business idea before they quit the day job.

3. Wages go up again

The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over rises 3.9%, from £12.71 to £13.21 an hour, from April 2027. The rate for 18 to 20-year-olds goes from £10.85 to £11.27. The under-18 and apprentice rate rises from £8.00 to £8.31.

For a café with eight staff on the living wage at 30 hours a week, that is roughly £6,200 more a year before employer National Insurance and pension costs. Price lists and rotas need to be reviewed now, not in March.

4. Help for founders, a squeeze on sellers

From April 2027, a new Founders’ Relief will offer a 10% Capital Gains Tax rate on up to £10 million of lifetime gains for founders of qualifying high-growth companies. The detail is still out for consultation.

The flip side is that the lifetime limit for Business Asset Disposal Relief, the main relief most owners use when they sell up or retire, halves from £1 million to £500,000. If you are thinking of selling a business in the next few years, talk to your accountant before April.

There is also a pilot Young Entrepreneurs Allowance to cover living costs in a founder’s first year, and £100 million from the British Business Bank aimed at female-led businesses raising early-stage money. Article 12 covers start-up support.

5. Smaller wins worth knowing

• Mileage: the 55p-a-mile rate for the first 10,000 business miles, introduced in April 2026, becomes permanent. Miles above that rise from 25p to 35p from April 2027.
• Fuel duty: the freeze and 5p cut are extended to 1 July 2027.
• Making Tax Digital: no late-filing penalties for the first four quarterly updates for people joining in April 2027 (see Article 5).
• Property and savings income: tax on rental and savings income rises by a further two points from April 2027, to 24%, 44% and 49%. Landlords with rental portfolios will feel this.
• Cash flow from 2029: from April 2029, Self Assessment payments move to smaller, more regular instalments, and businesses must set up a Direct Debit instruction for VAT and PAYE.

What wasn’t there

There was no change to the £90,000 VAT registration threshold, which many small firms had lobbied for. There was no headline change to employer National Insurance either.

What it means locally

The Budget also pushes more business rates income towards local and regional government. The target is 100% local retention by 2030, with Good Growth Funds for mayors and local leaders. For a council in Havering’s financial position (see Article 8), how that money is shared across London will matter a great deal.