Baird Consulting

26/11/2025

The UK Autumn Budget 2025, delivered today by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, confirmed major tax rises, the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, and targeted support for household bills. The measures are designed to raise around £26–30bn annually by 2030 while stabilising public finances and funding public services.

🔑 Key Announcements from the Budget
• Tax rises:
○ Dividend tax rates increased by 2 percentage points (basic rate to 10.75%, higher rate to 35.75%) from April 2026.
○ Higher taxes on savings and property income.
○ Corporation tax relief reduced, plus reforms to gambling taxation.
○ A new council tax surcharge on homes worth over £2m and £5m.
○ Salary-sacrifice pensions capped at £2,000 from 2029.
• Threshold freezes:
○ Income tax and National Insurance thresholds frozen until April 2031.
○ Employer NIC thresholds also frozen from 2028–29.
• Transport & energy:
○ A mileage-based charge on electric vehicles from April 2028.
○ Fuel duty freeze extended for five months, then staged increases from September 2026.
○ Household energy bills cut by ~£150 a year from April, funded by scrapping the ECO energy scheme.
• Welfare reform:
○ Two-child benefit cap scrapped from April 2026, ending the policy entirely.
○ Targeted support for low-income households to reduce child poverty.
• Economic outlook:
○ OBR forecasts show modest growth in 2025, weaker growth from 2026, and inflation easing gradually.
○ Borrowing is expected to fall steadily, with Reeves claiming fiscal headroom of £21.7bn.

📌 What This Means for UK Sole Traders & Private Limited Company Owners
• Dividend tax hikes will directly affect small business owners who rely on dividends for income.
• Frozen thresholds mean more tax paid as wages rise, even without rate increases.
• Council tax surcharges and reduced reliefs may impact those with property or investment portfolios.
• Energy bill cuts and welfare reforms may ease household costs, but the overall tax burden is set to rise to record levels by the end of the decade.

That's the headlines - we will be providing a detailed analysis to clients (by email), and available on our social media channels, by the end of the week.

07/11/2025

BREAKING - we’re hearing rumours that the Chancellor’s submission to the OBR includes a proposal to reduce the VAT registration threshold to £30k.

The effect of this on a lot of service businesses would be dramatic. If you only supply to other businesses, it’s probably not too much of a hit for you. If you sell to the public, you’ll effectively have 2 options - 1) increase your consumer price by 20%, or 2) take a 1/6 hit to profits. Or some mix between the two.

If you’re worried about this, and it does happen (nothing will be confirmed until the budget on 26 November), please do talk to your accountant about your concerns, or feel free to reach out to us for a complimentary chat.

03/06/2025

If anyone is able to help with this, please to let Horley Business Guild know, or contact Oakwood School directly!

Oakwood School (Horley) are looking for businesses in the local area (including Redhill/Reigate/Dorking) who would be willing to host year 10 students on a three day work experience placement.

Dates: Wednesday 9th July - Friday 11th July.

You must have :
- Employer Liability Insurance.
- An Up to date Risk assessment.
- Health & Safety policy.

If you can help please reply to this post or DM us and we'll put you in touch with the school, or email Mr Sims (Oakwood's Careers Lead) at [email protected].

04/04/2025

Did you know that UK Company Size thresholds are changing on 6 April?

If not, you're not alone - our latest blog will tell you everything you need to know

Did you know that UK company size thresholds are changing on 6 April 2025?   Probably not – these changes have not been well advertised or communicated. In effect, the thresholds at which a company or LLP moves from being classed as Micro to Small, Small and Medium, and Medim…

12/02/2025

A few months back, we published a blog about "The Importance of Networking" (see https://baird-consulting.co.uk/the-importance-of-networking/). Well, we do practice what we preach - in a few weeks time, we are sponsoring the next meeting of "LinkedIn Local Reigate & Dorking" which will be held at the Lincoln Arms on Tuesday 4 March. The event is free to attend, but you need to book online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/linkedin-local-dorking-reigate-spring-into-networking-tickets-1108134743849?aff=oddtdtcreator Hope to see you there!

Connecting business owners in Dorking & Reigate through relaxed networking events. Build genuine relationships & grow your local community!

08/02/2025

Another scam which has been doing the rounds - note the email address it’s sent from (contact at nation dot com) and the “warm regards” sign off. It is also signed from “GOV.UK Taxation Team” where this sort of compliance check would co e from HMRC - gov.uk is a service, they do not have “Teams”.

If ever you are unsure of the validity of communications received from HMRC or Companies House, always contact them independently to confirm it’s legitimate.

Stay Sate!

30/01/2025

Stay safe!

The below is an example of a scam that has been doing the rounds with newly registered companies.

This letter is NOT from companies house. It’s is a carefully worded scam. The company publish their own register, using this to skirt the law. They will argue that you are paying to be listed on their register, and you would mostly likely have no chance of getting your money back.

Always check letters received are genuine before acting. If you recieve something that doesn’t look right, speak to your accountant, or call companies house / HMRC directly (on a number published widely, not one given on the letter received) to validate authenticity.

17/01/2025

Small businesses, it's that time of year again! Let's talk about self-assessments. Are you ready? Are you confident in completing this yourself? Not completing this by the 31st January will result in a fine from our friends at HMRC. Read my latest blog to make sure you don't get caught short.

https://baird-consulting.co.uk/self-assessment-tax-return-are-you-ready/

by Sophie Hutchings   What is a self-assessment? Self-assessment is a system HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) uses to collect Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. Tax is usually deducted automatically from wages and pensions. People and businesses with other income must report it in a self...

05/01/2025

Happy new year! Hope everyone had a relaxing time off spending time with loved ones and eating far too much chocolate and cheese 🧀 Now, for the longest month of the year for us.. January.

It's not something we want to think about, I know! A couple things we got to think about:

⚫ Have you got everything ready for your SA
⚫ Are you confident in preparing it yourself
⚫ Do you need help?

The deadline is 31st January, make sure you don't get caught short.

02/01/2025

31st January is fast approaching, have you done your self-assessment? Need a hand? Specialising in small businesses and SME's. We're here to help.

📆 There’s less than one month to go to file your Self Assessment tax return.

File yours today ⬇️

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns?&utm_source=f.co_hmrcgovuk&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=self_assessment_

24/12/2024

Merry Christmas from the team at Baird Consulting!

Whatever your business goals for 2025, Baird Consulting can help you achieve them by helping you to free your time and grow your business with our tailored accountancy services. (Yes, even if you still need help with your 2023/24 tax return!)

25/11/2024

Supporting local businesses is massively important. This is why we are proud to be founder members of Horley Business Guild, who work alongside their counterparts Redhill Business Guild and Reigate Business Guild to promote businesses of all sizes across Love Reigate and Banstead!

How much does it cost to support a small business? It doesn't! There are many ways you can support businesses and this time of year it is more important than ever. Supporting a small business, is supporting someone's dream.