Autumn Budget 2026: Key measures

Reaction to the Autumn Budget can be found here.

Public sector funding and fiscal devolution

• Publishing the Fiscal Devolution Roadmap – The government is publishing the Fiscal Devolution Roadmap, which sets out its plans to reform the way that regional government is funded. This includes bringing Mayors into the Business Rates Retention system from 2027-28 and providing them with a share of income tax from 2028-29, as well as enabling strategic authorities to introduce visitor levies with local leaders able to set out plans for how revenues will be invested by March 2028.
• Confirming progress towards new devolution agreements – The government confirms it is in the final stages of agreeing new devolution agreements with 10 areas. Final arrangements will be confirmed in due course, subject to agreement with local areas.
• Increasing Business Rates Retention as part of fiscal devolution – From April 2027, mayors will receive a share of business rates income in exchange for Investment Funds, Mayoral Capacity Funding and Local Growth Funds, alongside a 20% share of growth in their areas on a permanent basis.
• Business Rates Retention Zones programme for Mayoral Strategic Authorities – Subject to Full Business Case approval, the government is supporting nine Strategic Authorities by establishing new Business Rates Retention Zones. Within these zones, the relevant billing authorities can retain 100% of business rates growth above an agreed baseline for 25 years, allowing them to invest in local priorities.
• Good Growth Funds – The government is supporting Mayors and local leaders in England to establish Good Growth Funds, giving local leaders greater flexibility to invest in local growth priorities with £285 million in transitional seed funding for one year in 2027-28, accompanied by a devolved borrowing facility for MSAs of £1.5 billion from April 2028 to catalyse investment into regional growth priorities. This facility will include a mechanism for subsidised lending.
• City Investment Funds – The government announced funding as part of the 2026 Mais lecture, comprising grant, loan and patient capital funding for mayors in Greater London (Housing Accelerator Fund only), Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, the North East, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands to deliver city densification at a local level.
• Capacity and capability funding uplift for strategic authorities – The government is providing an uplift to Mayoral Capacity Funding of £150 million in 2027-28.
• Strategic Authority rural proofing guidance – The government is developing, for the first time, new non-statutory guidance with strategic authorities and rural stakeholders to set out expectations for rural proofing at strategic authority level in England. The guidance will be published in early 2027 and help to ensure that devolution works effectively for rural places.
• Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) lending limit extension – The government is raising the statutory limit on the total amount of loans that can be issued to local authorities from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) from £135 billion to £155 billion, with the option to increase it to up to £175 billion in the future via statutory instrument.
• Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) debt relief for councils in severe financial distress – The government is providing debt relief totalling £500 million for Woking Borough Council and £200 million for Thurrock Council for debt owed to the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), to support the councils in their recovery from severe financial distress.

Procurement

• Procurement reform – A new National Procurement Policy Statement will be laid in Parliament in March 2027, prioritising delivery of high-quality jobs, fair pay and skills opportunities. The government will publish a new definition for a “UK supplier” in public procurement by January 2027, to get a better understanding of UK suppliers and sub-contractors across public supply chains. The government has published new guidance on applying social value in central government procurement, and is using procurement to proactively shape strategic markets.
• Innovation and procurement – The government intends to appoint an external chair to BIST’s Commercial Innovation Hub to accelerate efforts to drive innovation through public procurement.

Housing

• Social and Affordable Homes Programme uplift – The government is providing further funding of £1.5 billion for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, taking total capital investment in social and affordable housing to more than £40 billion over 10 years. This will complement the £9.6 billion allocated earlier this year and support delivery of around 10,000 additional homes.
• Supported housing licensing scheme – The government is introducing a licensing regime in 2027-28 to enforce national standards for supported housing in England.
• Zero-rate on land sold to social housing providers – The government will implement a zero-rate of VAT for land sold to registered providers of social housing (relevant Housing Associations). This will be introduced through secondary legislation in early 2027 and take effect from 1 April 2027
• Extending council preferential access to the Public Works Loan Board for council housebuilding – The government will extend the preferential Public Works Loan Board rate for a further year, to 2027-28, at 40 basis points below the PWLB normal rate. The rate will continue to remain under review.
• Housebuilding regulations – The government will not make major changes to building regulations for the remainder of this Parliament – except to continue improving building safety, including implementing the recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry. In addition, the government will continue to consider how to amend regulations where doing so would support development, by being more proportionate.
• Rough sleeping – Over July and August, the Prime Minister announced £442 million of funding to deliver a route off the street to rough sleepers in England before Christmas, alongside longer-term accommodation and intensive support. The government is now announcing additional funding to ensure that people sleeping rough in England have a route off the streets, not just this year, but every year, taking total additional rough sleeping funding to £874 million from 2026-27 to 2028-29.

Planning

• Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) reforms – Residential brownfield developments on sites up to 1.5 hectares in England are being exempted from BNG requirements, reducing costs and ensuring the government’s ‘brownfield-first’ ambitions directly support the delivery of more homes. The full government response to the consultation and impact assessment will be published in due course. This will also set out the timeline for implementing the new exemption. In parallel, BNG will become mandatory for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects from November 2026, ensuring the country’s largest developments make a strong contribution to nature recovery.
• Launch a new Data Centre Covenant – The Government announced a new covenant aimed at setting tests for approving new strategic data centres and the contribution these projects must make to the UK. All data centres will be encouraged to meet the tests set out in the Covenant, with strategic data centres required to meet them where they are seeking enhanced government support. Tests include investment in improving local communities, and adherence to the highest environmental standards, among other things. 
• Supporting adoption of AI planning tools – To enable adoption of AI planning tools, the government will mandate Local Planning Authorities to digitise and publish key planning documents as open data by the end of 2027, and confirm its commitment to make MHCLG’s PlanAssist frontier AI tool available to all councils in England by the end of 2027, subject to further testing.

Business rates

• Business rates: funding local authority costs for anti-avoidance litigation – From April 2027, the government will reimburse local authorities for external legal costs incurred in unsuccessful cases that challenge business rates avoidance and test a point of law.

Healthcare

• Independent review of productivity and AI in the NHS – The Chancellor and Health and Social Care Secretary have asked Mark Bailie to lead an independent review on NHS productivity and AI, which will inform the next spending review. Reporting in early 2027, it will focus on the practical opportunities presented by AI and technology to transform services for patients and boost NHS productivity.

Source: Autumn Budget 2026, HM Treasury.

Adam Carey