Most Budget coverage focuses on what’s costing you more. And to be fair, if you employ people or pay yourself through dividends, there’s plenty of that going on.
But buried in the November Budget are three genuinely useful changes for growing businesses.
They won’t make headlines, but they could help you raise investment, attract the talent you need to scale, or claim tax relief on development work with confidence.Â
1. EMI Schemes: The Limits Just Doubled
If you’ve never heard of Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), you’re not alone. But if you’re trying to attract senior talent without blowing your salary budget, they’re worth understanding.
EMI schemes let you give employees shares in your company with special tax advantages. Instead of paying income tax on the value of the shares when they receive them – which can be up to 45% – they pay capital gains tax when they eventually sell them.
Currently, that’s 14% under Business Asset Disposal Relief if they’ve held the options for over two years, rising to 18% from April 2026.
For an employee receiving shares worth £50,000, that’s the difference between a £22,500 tax bill and a £7,000 one.
For you as the employer, there’s no National Insurance to pay, and you get Corporation Tax relief when they exercise the options. It’s one of the most tax-efficient ways to reward key people with options.
The Problem Has Always Been the Limits
Until now, only companies with up to 250 employees and gross assets under £30 million could use EMI.
If you were growing fast, you’d hit those limits just when you needed the scheme most. Reach 251 employees or £30.1 million in assets, and you’re locked out.
What’s Changing From April 2026
The limits are doubling across the board:
- Employee limit: 500 employees, up from 250
- Gross assets: £120 million, up from £30 million
- Total option pool: £6 million across the company, up from £3 million
- Exercise period: 15 years, up from 10
If you’re a scale-up that’s outgrown the old limits, you can now keep using EMI to retain your best people.
If you’re competing for talent against larger companies but can’t match their salaries, offering shares through EMI can level the playing field. And if you’re planning to grow beyond 250 employees in the next few years, you now have room to breathe.
The Scheme Isn’t Automatic
You need to set it up properly, obtain HMRC approval for your share valuation, and ensure you meet all the qualifying conditions.
But for businesses with genuine growth plans, it’s one of the most powerful tools available. The tax savings for both you and your employees are real, and the changes mean EMI stays useful for much longer as you scale.
2. R&D Tax Relief: Get Certainty Before You Claim
If you spend money developing new products, processes, or technologies, you can claim R&D tax relief to reduce your tax bill. The relief is generous – either a reduction in your Corporation Tax or a cash credit if you’re loss-making.
The problem has been uncertainty. You submit your claim, HMRC reviews it months later, and you find out whether it’s accepted. If they don’t, you’ve wasted time and money on a claim that goes nowhere. Worse, you might face an enquiry that drags on for months and costs you in professional fees defending it.
HMRC has had an “advance assurance” scheme since 2015, but it’s been almost useless in practice. It was only available to first-time claimants with under £2 million turnover and fewer than 50 employees. Most growing businesses couldn’t use it.
What’s Changing From Spring 2026
HMRC is piloting an expanded advance assurance service for SMEs.
The exact details aren’t finalised yet, but the principle is simple: you submit details of your R&D activities to HMRC before making a full claim, they review it, and they tell you upfront whether it qualifies.
If they say yes, you can claim with confidence. If they say no, you haven’t wasted time preparing a full claim that would be rejected anyway. You know where you stand before investing resources in the process.
When This Matters
Three situations where advance assurance makes a real difference:
- You’ve been nervous about claiming:Â If you’re not sure whether your work qualifies as R&D in HMRC’s eyes, this removes that barrier. You get a yes or no before committing to the claim process.
- You’ve had claims challenged before: If you’ve had claims rejected or faced enquiries in the past, advance assurance gives you certainty before investing time in another claim. No more surprises months down the line.
- You’re in a sceptical sector: Software development, for example, tends to face more scrutiny from HMRC. Getting advance assurance protects you from enquiries later because HMRC has already agreed your work qualifies.
The pilot launches in Spring 2026. If you’re doing R&D and you want certainty before claiming, this is worth watching.
We don’t yet know all the eligibility criteria, but it’s aimed at SMEs planning to claim R&D relief.
3. EIS and VCT: Higher Limits, But a Catch
When investors invest in early-stage companies through the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) or Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), they receive tax relief. This makes your company more attractive to investors if you’re raising funds.
From April 2026, the limits are increasing substantially. But there’s a catch that’s causing controversy in the investment community.
The Good News: Limits Are Doubling
Companies can now raise significantly more through these schemes:
- Annual investment limit: £10 million for standard companies (up from £5 million), £20 million for knowledge-intensive companies (up from £10 million)
- Lifetime investment limit: £24 million for standard companies (up from £12 million), £40 million for knowledge-intensive companies (up from £20 million)
- Gross assets before investment: £30 million (up from £15 million)
- Gross assets after investment: £35 million (up from £16 million)
These changes are aimed at helping companies beyond the start-up stage. Previously, businesses hit the limits just when they needed capital to scale properly. Now you can raise through these tax-advantaged schemes for much longer as you grow.
The Catch: VCT Relief Is Being Cut
On the flip side, VCT income tax relief is being cut from 30% to 20% from April 2026.
For investors, this reduces the upfront tax incentive. Previously, investing £10,000 in a VCT gave them £3,000 back in income tax relief. Now it’s £2,000. The main benefit of VCTs – exemption from capital gains tax on future gains – remains unchanged. But the lower upfront relief makes VCTs less attractive compared to before.
Why does this matter to you? If VCTs raise less money from investors because the tax relief is lower, there’s less capital available for the companies they invest in. When VCT relief was previously cut from 40% to 30% in 2006-07, funds raised by VCTs fell 65% year-on-year and took 16 years to recover.
The government expects this change to raise £125 million by 2027-28, which suggests they’re banking on VCT investment continuing despite the reduced incentive. Whether that happens remains to be seen.
Who Benefits From the Increased Limits
If you’re a knowledge-intensive company – typically one that does deep R&D – the higher limits are useful.
You can now raise £20 million per year and £40 million over your lifetime through these tax-advantaged schemes. That’s double what was previously available.
If you’re in a sector where Series B and C funding is hard to come by domestically, the increased limits mean investors can write bigger cheques into UK companies as they scale. This might reduce pressure to seek overseas investors or relocate.
But whether investors will put that money in depends partly on whether the reduced VCT relief dampens appetite for these schemes. The next few years will tell.
What to Do Now
These three changes won’t affect every business, but if you’re growing, they’re worth understanding:
- Approaching 250 employees or £30 million in assets? Review whether EMI schemes could help you attract and retain talent without breaking your salary budget. The new limits mean you can keep using EMI for much longer as you scale.
- Doing R&D but haven’t claimed relief? Watch for the advance assurance pilot in Spring 2026. If you’ve been nervous about claiming because you’re not sure whether your work qualifies, this could give you the certainty you need.
- Raising investment? The increased EIS and VCT limits mean investors can back you for longer as you grow. But be aware that the VCT relief cut might affect the overall amount of capital flowing into these schemes.
How Double Point Can Help
At Double Point, we help growing businesses identify opportunities like these and structure their affairs to make the most of them. Whether it’s setting up an EMI scheme, claiming R&D relief with confidence, or understanding how Budget changes affect your fundraising plans, we’ll give you clear, practical advice.
Book a free consultation with us today. We’ll review your specific situation and make sure you’re not missing out on these growth opportunities.