EBC Blog – November 2026 Breakfast: Budget Talk

Our November networking breakfast took place on Wednesday 11 November, proudly in association with Peacock & Co Solicitors, who are kindly hosting us at their Epsom offices. With the Autumn Budget landing just two weeks earlier, it felt like the perfect moment to put the kettle on, pass round the pastries and ask the room a simple question: how is it really affecting you?

It was one of our best-attended breakfasts yet, and it was lovely to welcome so many new faces alongside our regulars. If you have ever wondered what business networking in Epsom looks like, this was a great example – relaxed, friendly and full of people happy to share an honest opinion.

“A bit of a non-starter” – or is it?

We started by pointing out that much of the media coverage had written the Budget off as a bit of a non-starter. But look a little closer and there is plenty in there that touches businesses and households directly – from business rates and the National Living Wage to changes in how savings and property income are taxed.

We weren’t there to give a lecture (we are not budget experts, and we said so). The aim was to hear what people in the room actually thought.

Show of hands: how confident are we feeling?

We asked everyone a straightforward question: compared to before the Budget, how do you feel about the UK economy over the next twelve months? Four options, one hand each.

• More confident: 17%
• Less confident: 42%
• About the same: 42%
• Not sure: 0%

Out of 24 hands, the room was split evenly between feeling less confident and feeling much the same, with only a handful more optimistic. Tellingly, nobody was unsure – everyone had a view. (Percentages are rounded, so they add up to just over 100%.)

That set the tone nicely, and the conversation took off from there.

Selling up, savings and succession

For one attendee who works with solvent businesses whose owners are ready to step away, the biggest change was Business Asset Disposal Relief. The lifetime limit is being halved from £1 million to £500,000 from April 2027. As they explained, plenty of owners have built up money inside their business over a working lifetime, and for some it is effectively their pension. Their advice to clients over the next few months is likely to be to think carefully about timing, as closing or selling before April could make a real difference to the tax bill.

Another attendee picked up on the rise in tax on savings income, which climbs to 49% for additional-rate taxpayers. That, they said, changes the maths when weighing up different types of investment.

A different voice offered a useful counterpoint. Budget-driven decisions can push people into selling a business too early, simply to save tax, rather than spending another year or two improving it and ultimately taking more out. Their suggestion was to play the longer game: plan from budget to five-year plan, not just from budget to budget.

The slow build of employment costs

One business owner described the Budget less as a single shock and more as the latest step in a steady build-up. Employer National Insurance changes, tighter employment rules and the extra care needed around probation periods all add up, meaning more reliance on HR advice just to run things properly. On the personal side, they pointed to pensions coming into the inheritance tax net, after years of everyone being told to save into them. Their verdict: nothing in this Budget did much to reassure them.

Where was the help for small businesses?

We asked whether the room felt there was enough support for small businesses, which make up so much of the UK economy. The answer was a fairly firm no.

One attendee admitted that hearing about the new Founders’ Relief initially sounded brilliant – until the detail suggested it was really aimed at high-growth firms with very large gains, with strict conditions that most local businesses would never meet. There was a nod of agreement that measures like this can feel more like good headlines than practical help for the kind of businesses sitting around our table.

Not everyone was quite so critical. One attendee urged the room to be “contextually sensitive” to the level of national debt, arguing that the government has very little room for manoeuvre and is trying to do what it can for innovation within tight constraints.

And there was a timely reminder that the Budget is not the only thing that shapes a business. As one attendee put it, owners often wait to see what the Budget brings and treat it as the event that will change their fortunes, while forgetting to look inside their own business. Only a small proportion of owners seek outside help, even though plenty of support is available – and as they said, you don’t have to suffer to build a business.

What would you have added?

We asked what one thing people would have liked to see in the Budget that didn’t appear. Two ideas stood out:

• The environment. One attendee felt this was a missed opportunity. Green grants and subsidies tend to trickle out through the year rather than featuring in the Budget, so the topic barely gets any airtime.
• Innovation and technology. Another wanted more done to drive technological innovation in the UK, including AI, feeling that both sides of politics talk about growth more than they act on it.

The minimum wage debate

The National Living Wage rises by 3.9% to £13.21 an hour from April 2027, and this sparked one of the liveliest exchanges of the morning. Some attendees said they were already seeing businesses struggle to take on junior staff because of the cost. Others agreed that people need a decent minimum wage – but pointed out the knock-on effect. When the lowest rate rises, the pay differentials above it get squeezed, and businesses come under pressure to lift everyone’s pay.

Interestingly, one attendee welcomed the smaller rise for 18 to 20-year-olds. If their rate matched that of older workers, they argued, small employers would simply choose the more experienced candidate, making it even harder for young people to get a foot in the door. That led neatly to the point that young people are having a tough time generally, from rising rents to getting on the property ladder – and that apprenticeships are well worth exploring locally.

Another attendee shared that a client with a team of 15 had been unable to recruit one extra person after the previous rise in employer National Insurance. Once tax and National Insurance are added up, the true cost of an employee is far higher than the salary alone.

Investing in tech – or waiting?

With the main first-year capital allowance rising from 40% to 50%, we asked whether anyone was planning to invest in equipment or technology. One attendee had been advised to hold off buying a new laptop for now, as soaring demand for memory chips has pushed prices up. Another offered a handy tip: good second-hand kit bought a few years ago can be far more powerful than what the same money buys new.

We also asked who had invested time or money in learning about AI, or training their staff on it. Quite a few hands went up – 7 in total – and that opened up a whole new conversation, which we have promised to give its own breakfast in future.

Great conversation, even better connections

What made this breakfast special wasn’t the Budget itself – it was the conversation. People challenged each other, shared real experiences from their own businesses and clients, and listened to views they didn’t always agree with. It was exactly the kind of open, friendly debate that makes a networking group worth getting out of bed for.

It was also clear that plenty of new introductions were made, both during the discussion and over coffee afterwards. Everyone who attended will receive the attendance list, so if you met someone you’d like to know better, get that one-to-one in the diary. A coffee or a quick video call is often where the real magic happens.

As we said on the day, 30 seconds round the table is never enough to understand what someone does. That’s the whole idea behind Epsom Business Club: getting to know each other properly so we can help each other’s businesses grow.

Join us at our next networking breakfast

If you run a business in Epsom, Ewell or the wider Surrey area and you’re looking for a friendly networking group, we’d love to see you. Our breakfasts run every two months and are relaxed, welcoming and refreshingly free of hard selling.

Our next breakfast is on Wednesday 3rd February 2027. [Book your place here – BOOKING LINK]

Thank you again to everyone who came along and joined in, and to Peacock & Co Solicitors for hosting us.