Another round up of comments from across the insurance sector and beyond;
MORNINGSTAR DBRS LOOKS AT DEBT RATING
The UK has run larger fiscal deficits in recent years as compared to historic norms, but the deficit has begun to narrow amid a shift towards tighter fiscal policy.
The Autumn 2025 Budget proposes a very gradual fiscal consolidation largely through backloaded revenue-raising measures.
While the consolidation path still appears somewhat unambitious, steady progress should help maintain stability in the UK’s credit rating.
“The OBR forecasts are slightly above our latest estimates of consensus but appear reasonably prudent and could give the government some room to outperform its fiscal targets. On the other hand, further efforts may be needed if growth underperforms,” says Julia Specht, Assistant Vice President, Global Sovereign Ratings.
IEA LOOKS FOR GROWTH STRATEGY, FINDS NONE
“The Chancellor has raised the white flag in the battle for economic growth. Instead of putting it front and centre of her plans, taking the necessary radical action to fix our tax system and strip back public spending to a sustainable level, she has instead prioritised keeping her backbenchers onside and doing her best to avoid painful headlines. “The result is a mess of painful tax rises on working people, exactly the same people she pledged to protect, and the very people and businesses who drive economic growth.
“Where there should be a real vision and tangible plan to return economic dynamism to Britain, deliver the growth that could end our doom loop and improve the livelihoods of every Briton, we have been given yet another record high tax burden being used to support yet further swelling of the state.”
ARGENTA PRIVATE CAPITAL – WILL INVESTORS STILL LOOK AT LLOYD’S?
Jon Jacobs, Head of Corporate Tax Client Services at Argenta Private Capital Limited, said:
“The Autumn Budget announced £26 billion in tax rises, while these measures do not directly target Lloyd’s of London investments, they reshape the broader tax landscape. For investors, this reinforces the importance of proactive planning.
“In particular the two-point increase in the tax rate on income derived from dividends, property and savings will substantially affect a number of individual investors in the UK. It will also have an impact on investments at Lloyd’s, where we are considering distribution of returns.
“While we had anticipated further changes to inheritance tax and capital gains tax, those remain unchanged for now.”
“In our view, investing at Lloyd’s still retains a number of statutory tax advantages compared to other asset classes, and may now become particularly attractive compared to high-valued property.
“As the UK tax landscape changes, individuals, especially those with international connections, will be reassessing their strategies. Lloyd’s of London remains a tax-efficient option for investment returns and succession planning in a complex environment, and, at APCL, we are ready to help.”
IOFA LOOKS AT SALARY SACRIFICE PENALTIES
Responding to the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Autumn Budget delivered today, Paul Sweeting, President at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, said:
“The decision to impose a £2,000 limit on salary sacrifice for pension contributions will undermine current efforts to improve retirement outcomes for individuals. In doing so, the act of saving into a pension will now be more expensive, more complex and less attractive to both employees and employers.
“As we highlighted before the Budget, the most successful interventions on pensions policy have been built upon foundations of long-termism and stability. This announcement is at odds with the welcome steps the Government is taking elsewhere to improve pensions provision, notably via the Pensions Commission and measures in the Pensions Schemes Bill designed to help savers grow their pension pots.”
PRICE BAILEY
“The number of employee-owned businesses being created slumped to the lowest level in three years in Q2 2025 following the CGT clawback introduced in last year’s Budget. This further reduction in CGT relief could undermine the fragile recovery in employee ownership.“
“It fundamentally changes the risk calculus for sellers. While EOTs remain attractive for succession planning and employee engagement, the reduced tax incentive narrows the gap with other routes such as trade sales, private equity, or management buyouts”.
Amy Leivers, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Commercial Property at WSP Solicitors, a firm which has been offering straightforward legal advice and support for over 265 years.
Family businesses have been walking a tightrope for years, and today’s budget will squeeze margins further
28 per cent of business owners are looking to leave the UK, not helped by the Chancellor’s tax changes today
“Today’s budget unfortunately puts more pressure on SMEs and family businesses. The freezing of thresholds on Employer National Insurance Contributions, and changes to corporation tax allowances will leave businesses of all shapes and sizes facing higher bills. This comes on top of yesterday’s announcement to increase minimum and national living wages. Although mandatory wage increases are well intended, they come on the back of tough decisions made last year and will squeeze margins further.
“Family businesses are concerned about their future stability – many have been walking a tightrope for a number of years against the backdrop of a stagnating economy and cost-of-living crisis. These businesses are now having to make tough decisions around restructuring, staffing, investment and innovation.
“As a result, our own research on 2,000 family firms shows family businesses are already pausing and cancelling plans to expand, others are suggesting earlier exits, and some, including 28 per cent of the business owners, Managing Directors and Chief Executives are looking to leave the UK all together – taking with them the backbone of country’s entrepreneurialism and innovation.
“There are reports of an estimated 142,000 millionaires expected to leave the country in 2025, our research found 32% are considering moving their business overseas.”
PAYING TOO MUCH
Paul Schreier, Chief Executive Officer, Simplyhealth and Denplan
“We welcome the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget commitment to continue prioritising the health of our nation. The investment in digital capabilities to improve productivity within healthcare, alongside the rollout of neighbourhood health centres bringing GPs, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists together, represents an important step towards delivering more accessible and integrated care.
“The need for a prevention-first approach to healthcare is an important step change, as economic inactivity due to sickness is projected to exceed four million people by the end of this government and employees are taking 9.4 days absence per year on average. The recent Keep Britain Working Review rightly reinforces this approach and the vital role employers can play. Recommendations such as risk pooling for SMEs to improve access to health provision are pivotal to ensuring all employees have the support they need to stay in work. However, the cost of doing business continues to rise. While we welcome calls to remove disincentives, such as tax, from the system, any delay to the next spending review risks missing opportunities to embed prevention, setting us on the wrong path and adding to inactivity numbers. Resetting incentives now would boost economic contributions and help reverse the trend of rising sickness-related inactivity.
“In dentistry, the funding committed to community health hubs is a positive step, as these centres can integrate dental care into local provision and improve patient access. But this progress will not be sustainable without urgent clarity on the NHS dental contract. Reform is essential to incentivise prevention and make NHS and mixed-practice dentistry viable up and down the country. Proposed changes, such as new care pathways for complex needs, mandatory urgent care provision, and fairer remuneration, must be implemented swiftly to ensure dentistry plays its full role in reducing health inequalities and supporting oral health as part of wider prevention strategies.”
ANGELICA SOLUTIONS
Sarah Vaughan, (ABOVE) Director, Angelica Solutions;
“Yesterday’s Budget delivered some welcome signals, but several measures risk missing the mark for the parts of the economy that drive long term growth.
“The apprenticeship support sounds positive on the surface, but its reach is limited to 18–21 year olds who have been out of work or education for at least 18 months. Offering opportunities to those struggling to get started is hard to argue with, but without any incentives to develop the brightest talent, the would be high-flyers of the future, we risk locking ourselves into a mediocre workforce and a mediocre economy. Businesses need support to help recent graduates make the most of their hard-earned education.
“Business rates relief is again focused on companies with physical premises. That overlooks the service sector and particularly micro-businesses, for whom having premises is still a distant ambition. Some of the UK’s highest-value and highest-growth sectors simply won’t feel the benefit.
“The increase in dividend tax will also concern many small business owners. From the outside, it is easy to say that any gap between dividend and income tax is a loophole for wealthy individuals. But that view ignores the reality of growing a small business. Taking financial risk usually comes with financial reward, and in the early stages it can feel like one risk after another. If we want an economy where entrepreneurship is genuinely open to all, we need to maintain the right balance between risk and reward. This increase takes another bite out of the potential reward at a time when founders are already being asked to shoulder more risk.
“There are steps in the right direction here, but if the goal is a dynamic and diverse economy, the measures announced yesterday will not get us all the way there”.
ZURICH MUNICIPAL
Commenting on the update on funding for potholes, shared in HM Treasury’s Budget 2025 document, Amy Brettell, Managing Director of Zurich Municipal, said:
“The government’s commitment to tackle the plague of potholes on our roads is good to see, but sadly we know the backlog far exceeds the funding being made available. Our own data shows that last winter left more than 38,000 potholes in need of repair, with the total cost to repair local roads now estimated at £16.8 billion. In the meantime, potholes are causing damage to vehicles and injuries to cyclists, with Zurich Municipal alone covering annual costs of over £2.5 million.”
EUROPCAR
Tom Middleditch, Sustainability spokesperson at Europcar:
“The Chancellor is stuck between a rock and a hard place – she needs to find new routes for revenue generation but also needs to encourage adoption of net zero mobility. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the proposal for an EV pay-per-mile charge was announced. We have a deep concern that a tax on mileage of electric vehicles will create doubt in people’s minds and be another deterrent to adoption of zero tailpipe emissions motoring.
“It is also unclear at this stage exactly how this would be implemented for rental vehicles. Rental is an effective transitionary solution to EV adoption, helping employers make the switch in a way they can afford, and which fits with business requirements. It also gives private motorists the opportunity to learn about electric motoring in real-world conditions that dealer test-drives simply can’t provide. We will, therefore, actively work with relevant industry bodies to respond to any government consultation to ensure that the broad impact of an EV mileage tax is fully understood.”
“It is, however, encouraging to see the commitment being made to charging infrastructure as well as new initiatives to make it easier for people to install charging at home.”
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