As we approach the Autumn Budget, the UK tech sector finds itself at a critical point. Businesses continue to navigate economic uncertainty while balancing investment in innovation, talent, digital transformation and growth.
While the Chancellor’s announcements remain unknown, there are several areas that technology businesses, investors and founders will be watching particularly closely. Here are the top 5 areas we’ll be watching.
1. Support for High-Growth Businesses
Access to capital remains one of the biggest challenges facing ambitious technology companies.
Over the last few years, many businesses have become more cautious about investment decisions amid economic headwinds. As such, any measures designed to stimulate business investment, encourage entrepreneurship or support scaling companies are likely to be welcomed.
For Yorkshire’s tech sector, this is about more than national policy – it’s about whether the region gets the tools to back its own growth. West Yorkshire’s tech and digital economy now supports over 9,700 businesses and more than 50,000 jobs, with Leeds’ tech sector growing 125% faster than the UK average and now home to the third-largest concentration of high-growth businesses outside London. The region’s £160 million Health Innovation and Digital Tech Investment Zone – targeting a further £220 million-plus of private investment and 2,500 skilled jobs across Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds – shows what targeted regional investment can unlock. Whether the Budget builds on this momentum, and whether it advances the wider devolution agenda championed by Yorkshire’s own metro mayors, Tracy Brabin in West Yorkshire and Oliver Coppard in South Yorkshire, alongside Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s push for city regions to retain and reinvest more of the tax revenue currently held by Westminster, will matter as much to Yorkshire’s scale-ups as any single tax measure.
Founders and management teams – in Yorkshire as much as anywhere – will be looking for indications that the government remains committed to creating an environment where high-growth businesses can start, scale and remain in the UK, backed by funding and decision-making that sits closer to home.
The UK’s competitive position as a destination for technology investment remains a key consideration for the sector.
2. Tax Certainty and Business Confidence
For many businesses, stability can be just as valuable as new incentives – and for entrepreneurs, few areas matter more than the capital gains tax regime that ultimately rewards the risk of building a company.
Technology companies typically make investment decisions over the medium to long term, whether that’s hiring talent, developing products or expanding into new markets.
The last two years have already added materially to the cost of doing business: employer National Insurance rose to 15% from April 2025, with the threshold at which it kicks in cut to £5,000, the main rate of CGT moved up to 24% and Business Asset Disposal Relief rose again this year, from 14% to 18%, having stood at just 10% before April 2025 – relief that applies to gains up to a £1 million lifetime limit . Entrepreneurs and investors will be watching for whether the Budget goes further in easing this wider cost-of-doing-business burden on scaling companies – and, just as importantly, whether it protects, or even strengthens, the incentive for founders to take the risk of starting and building a business in the first place, rather than letting the tax and cost environment add further disincentive to getting a salaried job.
Regardless of individual measures announced in the Budget, confidence is often driven by certainty as much as policy change.
3. Digital Skills and Talent
The ongoing competition for skilled technology professionals continues to be a challenge for businesses of all sizes.
Whether it’s software development, cyber security, AI, data analytics or digital transformation expertise, demand for talent continues to outpace supply in many areas.
With this in mind, the sector will be looking for measures that support skills development, workforce training and pathways into technology careers.
That talent gap sits awkwardly alongside a well-documented problem at the other end of the pipeline: 1.01 million 16-24 year-olds – 13.5% of the age group – were NEET (not in education, employment or training) in the first quarter of 2026, up 89,000 on the year before. For a sector crying out for software developers, cyber security specialists and data analysts, that combination looks as much like a missed opportunity as a social problem. The sector will be watching for whether the Budget builds on, and properly funds, recent measures such as the Youth Jobs Grant (£3,000 to employers hiring an 18-24 year-old who has been on Universal Credit for six months or more), the expanded Jobs Guarantee (a government-subsidised six-month placement for 18-24 year-olds) and the new £2,000-per-head non-levy incentive for hiring 16-24 year-old apprentices – and whether any of these are sharpened specifically to steer young people towards digital and technology pathways, rather than leaving individual employers to shoulder the cost and risk of training them up.
Investment in education, apprenticeships and upskilling initiatives – particularly where it reduces the cost, complexity and perceived risk for employers of taking on and training young people – could play an important role in helping businesses address long-standing recruitment challenges, while also giving NEET young people a genuine route into skilled, well-paid technology careers and supporting the UK’s wider growth ambitions.
4. Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies
AI remains one of the defining business themes of recent years and is rapidly moving from experimentation to implementation.
Technology businesses will be watching closely for any announcements that provide greater clarity around the government’s approach to AI adoption, regulation and investment.
The challenge for policymakers is striking the right balance between encouraging innovation and ensuring appropriate governance.
Businesses want certainty. Clear frameworks can help organisations invest confidently while managing risk and maintaining public trust.
5. The UK’s Commitment to Innovation and R&D
Innovation remains the lifeblood of the technology sector, and any signals around research and development support will be closely scrutinised.
The UK has consistently positioned itself as a global technology and innovation hub. As a result, businesses will be looking for reassurance that government policy continues to encourage investment in emerging technologies, product development and commercialisation.
Particular attention will be paid to whether further clarity, simplification or enhancement is provided around R&D tax relief schemes, which continue to play an important role in helping innovative businesses reinvest in growth.
That commitment to R&D only delivers commercial results if the risk capital is there to back innovation through to scale. The UK’s investment market remains structurally more cautious than the US, and some of our most promising technology companies have looked overseas as a result citing deeper pools of capital and a greater appetite for scale and risk in the US market. The Mansion House Accord – under which 17 of the UK’s largest pension providers have voluntarily committed to directing at least 5% of pension funds (around £252 billion of assets in scope) into UK private markets by 2030 – is a welcome step towards addressing this, but the sector will be watching for further measures in the Budget to unlock UK-based investment, so that the businesses this R&D funding helps create are not forced to look overseas for the capital to grow them.
For many scaling businesses, long-tern confidence in the innovation landscape can be just as important as the financial support itself.
Looking Ahead
The Autumn Budget will undoubtedly generate headlines, but for the technology sector, the bigger question is what it says about the UK’s long-term growth strategy.
Innovation, talent, investment and productivity remain central to the future success of both the tech sector and the wider economy.
Whether you’re a start-up founder, scale-up leader or established technology business, the announcements made this autumn could help shape investment decisions and growth plans for years to come.
At BHP, we’ll be monitoring the Budget closely and providing practical insights on what the announcements mean for technology businesses, entrepreneurs and investors in the weeks that follow.
Need expert guidance on how the Budget could affect your business? Get in touch with BHP’s technology specialists to discuss your plans and opportunities for growth.
This material is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as professional advice.
