The Budget 2026
Chancellor John Healey delivered his first budget this week. He promised to deliver ”breathing space for today, hope for the future.” Among action on economic growth and supporting businesses, there were a number of announcements relevant to the Good Landlord Charter.
On homelessness and housing, the Chancellor:
announced an extra £430m to support people sleeping rough to find a route off the streets over the next 2 years. Greater Manchester Combined Authority announced early this month they were set to receive £16.95 million
committed to strengthening support to build more council homes by removing VAT from land sold to social housing providers, and an additional £1.5bn for the social and affordable housing programme
Reaffirmed previous announcement of enforcing national standards for supported housing in England next year via the Supported Housing Regulatory Oversight Act (SHROA). We’re currently consulting on our supported housing assessment framework, and are incorporating these incoming changes
On household bills, he announced:
a £100 'household energy payment' for households in council tax band A-D, supporting around 1.2 million households in Greater Manchester
the removal of gas standing charges (A standing charge is a fixed daily fee paid through all household gas bills, regardless of how much is used, similar to a telephone line rental.)
the extension of the VAT cut on electricity to July 2027, saving households £50
Mr Healey also confirmed that there will be an additional 2% property income tax rise in April 2027 for unincorporated landlords, on top of the 2% announced by Rachel Reeves in her Budget last year, meaning the increase from April 2027 will be 4%. The new rates will be 24% for the basic rate, 44% for the higher rate and 49% for the additional rate.
What wasn’t included?
Meanwhile, there was no uplift of Local Housing Allowance, which supports tenants in low-income households to pay their rent.
For anyone looking to buy or sell property, there has been no change to Stamp Duty, despite speculation ahead of the Budget. Though for first time buyer they anoounced a new 'The Your First Home Scheme' set to help 70,000 people onto the property ladder.
The full details are available on the Government website.
