New Chancellor, Autumn Budget Ahead: How Kent Businesses Can Prepare Now

Westminster has just been through one of its busiest weeks in years. Andy Burnham became Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, and within days he had named a new Chancellor of the Exchequer — John Healey, who replaces Rachel Reeves at the Treasury. For business owners across Gravesend, Dartford and Medway, that matters for one simple reason: a new Chancellor writes his own Budget, and some of the tax plans we had all assumed were settled are suddenly back in the air.

A change at the top — and why it matters

Every Chancellor brings their own priorities. Mr Healey’s appointment was a surprise even in Westminster, and at the time of writing he had not set a date for his first Budget. The autumn is the usual window — last year’s was delivered on the final Wednesday of November — but a new government finding its feet could move sooner or later. What we can say with confidence is that the first Budget of a new administration is rarely a “steady as she goes” affair. It is exactly the moment when previously announced measures get confirmed, reshaped or quietly dropped.

What has already happened — and won’t be undone

It helps to separate what is already in force from what is merely planned. Several changes took effect back in April 2026 and apply to the current 2026/27 tax year. A new Chancellor is not going to reverse them retrospectively, so you should plan around them as fact:

• Dividend tax is higher. Rates rose two points from April 2026, to 10.75% at the basic rate and 35.75% at the higher rate, with the tax-free dividend allowance still just £500.
• Employer National Insurance sits at 15%, which has already reshaped the maths behind a director’s salary-and-dividend mix.
• Capital allowances are less generous, with the writing-down allowance main rate down from 18% to 14%.
• Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is live for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000.

What is now genuinely uncertain

Here is where the change of Chancellor really bites. A number of measures were announced by the previous government but sit in future tax years — and those are precisely the things a new Chancellor can keep, change or scrap at his first Budget. Treat the following as plans, not promises:

• The freeze on income tax thresholds. The personal allowance (£12,570) and higher-rate threshold (£50,270) were pencilled in to stay frozen until 2031. A new Chancellor might extend that, end it early, or take a different route entirely.
• Higher tax on property and savings income from April 2027. Separate, higher rates for landlords and savers were on the previous government’s roadmap. Whether they survive in the same form is now an open question.

The point is not to predict what Mr Healey will do — nobody can yet. It is to stop treating last year’s roadmap as gospel. If your longer-term planning leans on a figure that only exists in a future Budget, build in some flexibility.

Making Tax Digital is still coming

One thing we would not bet against is Making Tax Digital. It is already law and well under way, so while a new Chancellor could tinker with the timing, the direction of travel is clear. The threshold is due to fall to £30,000 of qualifying income from April 2027 and to £20,000 from April 2028. Qualifying income is your gross self-employment and property income combined — turnover, not profit — so it catches more Kent landlords and sole traders than many expect. If you are anywhere near those levels, moving to digital record-keeping now is a safe bet whatever the Budget brings.

Sensible moves before the Budget

Uncertainty is not a reason to freeze. It is a reason to tidy up the things you actually control:

1. Use this year’s allowances while you have them. Pension contributions, the annual investment allowance on equipment and ISA subscriptions are all available now. Reliefs are trimmed far more often than they are expanded.
2. Revisit your salary and dividend split. With dividend rates up and employer NIC at 15%, last year’s profit-extraction plan may no longer be the most efficient one.
3. Bring forward genuine, planned spending. If you were already going to invest in the business, doing it under today’s known rules removes one variable.
4. Keep your records Budget-ready. Clean, current figures mean that whatever Mr Healey announces, we can model the impact on your own numbers within days rather than guessing.

What not to do

Do not make an irreversible decision to dodge a tax that has not been announced — and that goes double with a brand-new Chancellor whose plans are still unknown. We regularly see owners tempted to sell an asset, wind up a company or strip cash out on the strength of a headline, only for the rumoured change never to arrive. If a move only makes sense to beat a speculative Budget measure, it probably does not make sense at all. Sound decisions should stand up on their own commercial merits first.

How MCC Partners can help

We help business owners, company directors and landlords across Gravesend and the wider Kent area plan around what is confirmed, stay calm about what is merely rumoured, and react quickly once the new Chancellor’s first Budget lands. That means reviewing your salary and dividend position on the current rates, making sure allowances and reliefs are used before year-end, and getting you ready for Making Tax Digital ahead of the deadline. A short planning conversation now is worth far more than a scramble later.