The CBI surveyed members immediately after the Autumn Budget to understand the extent to which announcements deliver on business needs and shift the dial on growth. 99 businesses and 14 trade associations responded to the survey, with 55% of respondents expressing a negative response to the Autumn Budget and 23% a positive response. These results are slightly more favourable when compared with the 2024 Autumn Budget member survey results, with the 2024 Autumn Budget negatively received by 62% of respondents and positively received by 24%.
Below is our deepdive into the survey results as we explain the priorities we will be taking forward in 2026 to help lower the cost of doing business, fast track delivery, and push the frontier.
Despite the majority of respondents looking unfavourably on the Autumn Budget, there were policy announcements welcomed by members.
What did members welcome in the Autumn Budget?
Delivering £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy
The most welcome policy announcement, with more than a third (40%) of respondents pleased to see funding for the Growth and Skills Levy. Whilst welcome, there is scope for the government to go further, with publicly available data suggesting that some levy funding is still not being put towards skills delivery. The CBI will be continuing to make the case for increased Growth and Skills Levy flexibility in 2026.
Devolving £13 billion of flexible funding for seven Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs)
The second most welcome policy announcement, with 38% of respondents pleased to see the £13 billion of flexible funding devolved to seven mayors to invest in skills, business support, and infrastructure. A positive step, and the CBI are now calling on the government to go further by rolling out integrated settlements to all Combined Authorities who want one.
Recruiting 350 additional planners
The third most welcome announcement with almost a quarter (24%) of respondents selecting this announcement. Additional planners was a key CBI ask, with the also announced Planning Careers Hub to play an important role in retaining and retraining more planners in the profession.
Our survey also asked members to select unwelcome policy announcements, with the three below viewed as being most negative by respondents.
What did members not welcome in the Autumn Budget?
Adding National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to salary sacrifice pension schemes
The most unwelcome policy announcement, with almost three quarters (73%) of respondents selecting this policy announcement. The CBI shares the sentiment of our members, with this announcement running contrary to the government’s broader ambitions to get people saving more for retirement. A key concern is the administrative cost this will place on businesses now, despite doubts around whether this change will be politically deliverable in 2029 ahead of a potential General Election.
Raising the National Living Wage by 4.1% to £12.71 and by 8.5% to £10.85 for 18-20 year old
The second most unwelcome policy announcement, with 49% of respondents selecting this policy announcement. This announcement only adds to the labour cost challenges members have been facing since last year’s employer NICs changes. With the Employment Rights Bill now having cleared the last parliamentary hurdle, it is imperative balanced solutions are now found through secondary legislation to avoid further labour market challenges.
Introducing the Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED)
The third most unwelcome policy announcement, with 47% of respondents selecting this policy announcement. Whilst a long-term solution needs to be found to declining fuel duty revenues, this policy announcement feels short-sighted as the automotive sector struggles to meet ambitious zero emission vehicle (ZEV) sales targets.
The state of play heading into 2026
Taken as a whole, members do not feel that the Budget will lower the costs of doing business, tackle key delivery barriers inhibiting growth in the short term, and increase confidence to innovate and scale.
Lowering the costs of doing business
We asked members to outline the extent to which they agreed with the statement that announcements will help lower the cost of doing business. 84% of respondents disagreed with this statement to at least some extent, with only 5% agreeing with this statement to at least some extent.
Making the case for the need to lower the costs of doing business in 2026, the CBI will be working with our members and the government to identify additional support that can be provided to tackle punitive industrial energy costs, find balanced solutions on the Employment Rights Bill through secondary legislation, and lead regulation sprints to understand where sectoral regulation can be streamlined in the pursuit of growth.
Tackling key delivery barriers inhibiting growth in the short term
We asked members to outline the extent to which they agreed with the statement that announcements will help tackle key delivery barriers inhibiting growth in the short term. Three out of four respondents (75%) disagreed with this statement at least to some extent, with only 11% agreeing with this statement to at least some extent.
The CBI will be continuing to make the case for the government to expedite delivery in the short term in 2026. This will include making the case to government to broaden its risk appetite in exploring how a broad set of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) financing models could deliver on its economic and social infrastructure ambitions and further exploring how planning decisions could be accelerated.
Boosting confidence to innovate and scale
We asked members to outline the extent to which they agreed with the statement that announcements will give them greater confidence to innovate and scale. 62% of respondents disagreed with this statement to at least some extent, with only 14% agreeing with this statement to at least some extent.
The CBI will be advocating for further policy changes in 2026 that will help businesses push the frontier. This will include pushing for a workforce strategy that builds AI skills across all sectors – from advanced digital skills to advanced technical capability, addressing barriers that slow scaling – access to finance, procurement hurdles, planning talent shortages, and regulatory friction, and helping HMRC design systems that work for businesses of different sizes from sole traders to multinationals as part of its Software Roadmap.
If you would like to discuss the CBI’s Autumn Budget member survey responses in more detail, please get in touch with Charlie Courtney, CBI Economic Policy Manager.
