Budget Bytes: What the Autumn Budget 2026 means for skills, immigration, and tech
In his Budget speech, Chancellor John Healey said that “talent [is] backed by this budget”, but what does this mean in practice for tech businesses? Read on for the key skills, workforce, and immigration announcements and techUK’s analysis.
Find techUK’s wider analysis of Budget 2026 here:
Antony Walker, Deputy CEO of techUK, said:
Tech is the engine of UK growth, and we asked the Chancellor to do it no harm. He has listened. He could have gone further on energy: a year on, the framework to control levies on bills has been pushed back again, with no plan to move existing levies into general taxation. That must be the next priority.
But we are pleased to see action on several issues the tech sector has raised. AI sits at the heart of this Budget, the Defence Investment Plan is fully funded, and sticking to the Corporate Tax Roadmap alongside a £5 billion boost for the British Business Bank will give firms confidence to invest. For entrepreneurs, the new Founders’ Relief and a tripled Trading Allowance will help more people start and scale businesses in the UK
techUK talent policy wins at a glance:
Skills Worker Visa route: After years of techUK pressure, including our analysis of the 2025 Immigration White Paper, the government has reformed the elements of the Skilled Worker route, a clear win that puts the UK back in the race for the world’s best talent.
Women in tech: The Women in Tech Taskforce’s Tech Forward standard, which techUK champions as an ambassador, now has Budget backing alongside a new programme for women-led scale-ups.
Youth Employment: The Budget confirmed funding for hiring incentives and expansion of the Jobs Guarantee, moves that techUK called for in its response to the Milburn Review.
Key announcements on skills & apprenticeships:
The Youth Employment and Skills Package - £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for businesses hiring eligible young unemployed people, an extension of the Jobs Guarantee to those aged 22 to 24, and a £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for new young apprentices taken on by non-levy paying employers in England.
Expanding local apprenticeship services to all current mayors – providing £100 million over two years to expand local apprenticeship services to deliver tailored local support that helps young people access apprenticeships and supports employers to create apprenticeship opportunities. Mayoral Apprenticeship Brokerage Pilots will be expanded from 7 to 14 Mayoral Strategic Authorities across England.
Procurement as a skills lever – will require 3% of the workforce of all large government projects in construction and infrastructure to be apprentices.
The Budget was light on new announcements on skills and apprenticeships. Many of the measures outlined have already been trailed, and the government appears to be waiting for the final report of the Milburn Review before setting out its approach.
Early next year the government will publish a White Paper responding to the final report (which is expected in November) and the conclusion of the Timms Review. techUK’s evidence helped shape the interim Milburn Review's report, in which we highlighted the need to better equip young people for work, address the distinct barriers facing different groups, and take action to ensure sufficient access to opportunities. As a member of the government’s Early Careers Jobs Alliance, we are exploring what support businesses need to expand opportunities for young people through entry-level roles, apprenticeships and placements.
The £2,000 hiring payment for non-levy employers is a welcome recognition that smaller firms need extra support to take on apprentices. Many tech SMEs and start-ups want to hire young people but lack the capacity to manage the process alone, so the expanded brokerage pilots could make a real difference, provided they reach digital and tech employers and not only traditional apprenticeship sectors.
Although the present policy focus on young people is necessary, it should not come at the expense of the wider skills system. The skills businesses need do not lose their value when an employee turns 25. Adult apprenticeships let people already in work retrain, move into higher-skilled roles and keep pace as AI changes jobs. This is important to keep at a time when unemployment among people aged 50 and over is reportedly three times that of the youth NEET (not in education, employment or training) population.
Government must therefore take a whole-workforce approach to skills. Apprenticeship policy must support both the next generation entering work and the existing workforce adapting to the demands of a changing economy. These objectives should be complementary, not competing.
Workforce announcements on pay, mobility and inclusion:
Increases to National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage – On 1 April 2027, the National Living Wage will increase by 3.9% to £13.21 per hour; the National Minimum Wage will increase by 3.9% to £11.27 per hour for 18 to 20-year-olds and by 3.9% to £8.31 per hour for 16 to 17-year-olds and eligible apprentices; and the accommodation offset will rise by 3.9% to £11.53 per day.
Reform of non-compete clauses – will introduce legislation so that non-compete clauses in employment contracts do not prevent startups and scaling firms from hiring, or workers in the everyday economy from moving jobs. Government will consult on this shortly.
Women in Tech standards – Two new voluntary industry standards developed by the Women in Tech Taskforce, ‘Tech Forward’ and ‘Inclusive Investment’, will drive more inclusive employment practices in tech and fairer access to investment for female entrepreneurs, supporting women to start and scale businesses and build careers in tech.
Support for women-led scale-ups – New scale-up women’s programme will test how best to overcome barriers to fundraising and investment for women founders, which could include peer learning, investor networks and practical support on finance and governance.
It is notable that the government has sought to slow increases to the minimum wage for 18-20 year-olds, given the government had previously raised the rate to meet its manifesto commitment to remove ‘discriminatory age bands’. In our response to the Milburn Review, we highlighted that the cost of hiring young people had risen considerably, and large increases risked deterring employers from hiring less experienced candidates. Balancing increased earnings with ensuring employment opportunities will be key, so this is a sensible shift, though cost pressures remain and the Chancellor was clear that the manifesto commitment still stands.
The Chancellor also said in his speech that “the government had heard calls for pay transparency on job adverts” to close the gender pay gap and would “act soon to make sure women are paid and promoted fairly”. techUK responded to the recent consultation on equal pay and pay discrimination, where we outlined our support for a statutory requirement for employers to disclose pay information in job adverts or before interviews. Our recommendations aim to make pay transparency meaningful for candidates while keeping implementation proportionate for employers.
techUK is proud to be a part of the government’s Women in Tech Taskforce and an ambassador of Tech Forward Standard. We support its ambition to ensure women are supported and empowered to stay, succeed, and thrive in their careers.
We are pleased to see the government’s new scale-up programme for female founders and the British Business Bank’s commitment to double its support for women-led businesses and funds to £200m. These are positive steps, but more can be done to close the gender investment gap for female founders as only 2% of venture capital goes to fully female-founded businesses. It is essential that government works to improve data on female entrepreneurship, so it can track whether this support is reaching women-led businesses and adjust where it isn’t. techUK has previously set out recommendations to support for female entrepreneurs, including on access to finance, networks, and data, in our submission to the Women and Equalities Committee.
We will engage closely with the forthcoming consultation on non-competes. While non-competes can restrict talent mobility and competitiveness, proportionate and time-limited clauses help protect intellectual property, confidential information and client relationships. Announcements on immigration and global mobility:
Tax treatment of the Immigration Skills Charge and Certificate of Sponsorship fees – employer’s payment of an Immigration Skills Charge or Certificate of Sponsorship fee is not treated as a taxable benefit in kind, applying to payments made on or after 28 October 2026.
Extending visa curtailment to six months – allowing the highest skilled workers to access a visa curtailment period of up to six months, allowing these highly skilled sponsored workers longer to find a new job, with implementation in 2027.
Expanding the High Potential Individual visa – eligibility will now cover graduates of the top 150 global institutions.
Extending the graduate visa from 18 months to two years for eligible universities – the graduate visa duration will be set at two years for individuals who graduate from high-compliance universities where there are strong labour market outcomes.
Global Talent Visa Expansion – UKRI will work with organisations in regions across the UK to identify additional R&D-intensive businesses in Industrial Strategy sectors who could act as host organisations on the endorsed funder pathway of the Global Talent visa route by spring 2027.
Rejoining Erasmus+ – The UK will participate in the Erasmus+ study scheme for 2027, from 1 January 2027.
Implementing Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommendations on visa salary requirements – From spring 2027, government will be taking on board the MAC’s recommendations on reducing occupation-specific minimum salary thresholds from the median to the 25th percentile of wages; uprating the general threshold based on 2026 wage data; annually updating salary thresholds using the latest ONS wage inflation data (ASHE); levelling new entrant discounts into a single figure for those studying, recently graduated, or in professional training; removing the PhD discount.
techUK has long advocated for reform of the Skilled Worker visa route, and we welcome the government’s recognition of the need for change. The government’s changes respond directly to the concerns techUK has raised consistently, including in our analysis of the 2025 Immigration White Paper and submission to the budget.
This is a clear win for the sector and a strong signal that the UK is back in the race for the world’s best talent. Measures techUK has championed are now government policy.
These changes send a welcome signal that the UK wants to compete for the world’s best talent. We are delighted government has listened to us to re-instate the graduate visa from 18 months to two years (albeit for eligible universities), expand the list of High Potential Individual visa, expand Global Talent Visa, take forward our recommendations to the Migration Advisory Committee on visa salary requirements, and become an associated third country in the Erasmus+ – which we called for in our manifesto ahead of the 2024 UK General Election.
techUK has always believed that we should not view the need for international talent as a temporary measure until the UK can cultivate a sufficient domestic talent pool. If the UK aims to house world-leading tech companies, the demand for international talent, regardless of their nationality, will persist. This fundamental requirement will remain unchanged even as the domestic talent pool expands.
Find out more at our skills webinar on Thursday 5 November:
