Well, it was a Budget that perhaps sums up the mood around Labour’s time in office so far. There’s no money, nobody’s especially happy, and the presentation was a bit of a shambles.

Other than that, Rachel Reeves actually did pretty well.

After weeks of leaks, doom-mongering and U-turns, the Chancellor finally stood at the despatch box to deliver her Budget on Wednesday – only to find that someone from the Office for Budget Responsibility had accidentally leaked it half an hour beforehand.

Given the circumstances, Reeves appeared remarkably unflustered as she delivered a detailed, impassioned and confident speech which, in the end, can be framed as a traditionally redistributive Labour Budget, symbolised by the introduction of a ‘mansion tax’ alongside the abolition of the two-child benefit cap.

A huge tip of the hat to everyone we’ve worked with over the years to make the case for getting rid of the cruel cap which kept thousands of children in poverty – and we’re thankful to those policy-makers who have finally seen it off.

Despite endless discussion about the merits of raising income tax for all to inject some fast cash back into government, in the end Reeves sidestepped that manifesto-busting choice and produced a more timid series of smaller measures.

There was neither a big financial shock nor a white rabbit pulled out of the hat – but, together, the measures aim to provide much-needed support on the ever-rising cost of living, albeit at a price to workers on middle and higher incomes.

The hope for the Chancellor is that she’ll soon be able to deliver on her bigger promise to the working people of Britain: that their lives will get easier.

Whether it will be enough to restore confidence in what has become a gaffe-prone and apparently indecisive government is another matter, especially when the buffeting winds of the Reform surge look unlikely to cease anytime soon. Much depends on the digestion of the detail.

And what does that mean for the housing sector and for social tenants? Worry not – we’re here as usual to unpick all the detail with our step-by-step guide to the most important measures in this Budget.

Thank you once again for reading. We’re all off to the Christmas markets for a mulled wine and a giant bratwurst.

We’ll be back with another Roundup in 2026! See you then.

Bobbie, Els, Will, Siobhan, Emma and the Hough Bellis team

THE HOUGH BELLIS BIG BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Don’t be fooled by the relative calm of Rachel Reeves’ delivery (especially given her frustration at the OBR pre-releasing its assessment of her work) – this was an intensely political Budget from the Chancellor. Reeves task was not only to rebalance the nation’s finances, but also to appease those within her own party who have become increasingly vocal about the precarious nature of her tenure.

After all the briefings and backtracking, we now have a clearer picture of what this Budget was intended to achieve: cuts to NHS waiting lists, cuts to the cost of living and cuts to government debt, all underpinned by action on welfare reform and social justice. Housing, however, was notably absent.

In many ways, this was a traditional redistributive Labour Budget, symbolised by the introduction of a ‘mansion tax’ alongside the abolition of the damaging and much-maligned two-child benefit cap, first introduced during the Conservative austerity years. Long campaigned for by housing charities and lobbying groups, this was the flagship announcement for both the government and its own backbench MPs, who were delighted.

In repealing the cap, Reeves even took a moment to share her disgust at the so-called ‘rape clause’, which allowed women who could “prove” they had conceived a child non-consensually to claim the benefit for a third child. Perhaps it should not have taken a Labour government 18 months to act on this repellent policy, but at last it is gone.

Elsewhere, there was action to reduce energy bills and the cost of living, with a 4.2% rise in the state pension, a 4.1% rise in the National Living Wage (with greater increases for younger workers) and the freezing of some transport costs and prescription fees.

The freezing of income tax thresholds until 2031 will raise £26bn by 2029-30, and the reduction of debt and borrowing was critical for the markets.

The initial reaction had been an acceptance that it could have been a lot worse, although we are starting to see the traditionally right-leaning press set the frame of working people paying more to prop up welfare spending.

Headlines such as ‘Budget for Benefits Street’ and talk of workers subsidising the lifestyles of ‘shirkers’ and ‘skivers’ take us back to a time many of us would rather forget – when David Cameron and George Osborne sought to pit the nation against its poorest citizens as a justification for austerity.

 

On housing

The sector is feeling disappointed that social housing was notably absent from today’s speech, although we did expect this given a general feeling across government that the sector had already done very well from Angela Rayner’s tenure as housing secretary. The Northern Housing Consortium described it as “a missed opportunity to provide social housing providers with the clarity they need to deliver on the government’s generational £39bn investment in social housing from the Spending Review.”

It was expected that a decision on rent convergence would be made in this week’s announcement (with ministers set to decide between a £2 or £3 per-week increase). This has now been delayed until January. There was also no news on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates or the temporary accommodation subsidy – both of which drive poverty, alongside the total household benefit cap which was also left untouched.

Recommendations from the House of Lords to build new towns into the Budget were also ignored, with the Government only stating it will “continue to consider the ways in which private finance can support the delivery of wider infrastructure ambitions, including leveraging private finance to help deliver the next generation of new towns.”

The silence on social housing will raise eyebrows among those concerned about new housing secretary Steve Reed’s alignment with the ‘YIMBY’ lobby and traditional housebuilders.

Labour backbenchers were concerned when London’s social housing development targets were dropped earlier this year (Inside Housing produced a useful list of lessons from this).

We must be alive to the fact that, without Rayner to keep making the case at the cabinet table for social housing, the argument could be lost as quickly as it was once won. We must keep making our case and showing our impact.

Reeves will, however, be celebrating the impact of recent planning reforms. The OBR predicts that while the number of new homes being built will fall from 260,000 a year in the early 2020s to 215,000 in 2026-27, it will increase to an average of 305,000 in 2029-2030. And the government has allocated £48m to speed up planning decisions, with funding used to recruit 350 additional planners.

Property taxes… 

Private landlords will be hit with a 2% tax rise on rental income, which will no doubt move some more small-time players to leave the sector. There is a surfeit of flats and small houses on the market at the moment due to the decision of private landlords to sell, which is keeping prices low(er).

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as wages continue to rise: there will be new opportunities for some first-time buyers as a result.

Meanwhile, at the top end of the market, homes valued at £2m or more in England will face a council tax surcharge of between £2,500 and £7,500 a year from April 2028.

Remember when you see the endless discussion about how the policy will hit middle class workers in London and the south-east that only approximately 160,000 in England are worth £2m or more. It will only bring in a relatively modest amount of income (approximately £400m), but it sends a useful signal.

Another notable absence from the Budget was any change to stamp duty. Changes to this form of land tax could encourage first-time buyers and second steppers to get moving, but Rachel Reeves may be storing it up for a bigger shift in property wealth taxation at a later budget.

What does it mean for social tenants? 

With a rise in the state pension and the national minimum wage, there will be more money in tenants’ pockets and being spent in our communities. The Help to Save scheme, a savings support programme open to anyone claiming Universal Credit, will also be made permanent from 2028.

But welcome and overdue though the changes to family welfare benefits are, the inevitable backlash will also be felt by tenants too. According to a recent survey, two-thirds of tenants already feel stigmatised by living in social housing – a figure which could rise in the fallout of this week’s economic announcements.

Inside the office…

A few announcements will affect how we do business as a sector. On pensions, the Chancellor introduced a £2,000 a year cap on the sum that can be contributed to a pension through salary sacrifice from April 2029. Salary sacrifice arrangements had allowed employees to give up part of their salary in exchange for paying the equivalent directly into their pension, providing NI savings for both employer and employee. Now, salary sacrifice above the £2,000 level will still be allowed but will be subject to National Insurance. The OBR forecasts this change will raise an additional £4.7 billion in National Insurance contributions in 2029. Employees will continue to receive income tax relief on pension contributions.

For social landlords, this may impact your ability to recruit talent into housing from other sectors. In the past, where we have been unable to match salary expectations in some other fields, we have been able to use salary sacrificed pension payments as a sweetener to attract the right people to work with us. HR teams will be keeping a close eye on the impact on recruitment and retirement savings among all staff.

The rise in the minimum wage is also likely to have an impact on the contractors we work with in the push for new development. Housing providers are already logging record costs in the supply chain, and with decent homes and energy efficiency work coming down the track, this could put pressure on the bottom line. Small contractors already struggling with the impact of changes to national insurance costs may be fighting to stay in business with a higher minimum wage to pay. Large outfits will certainly pass down the costs.

With more money being spent by low paid workers across the economy, Reeves has clearly decided that’s a gamble worth taking.

On the positive side, Reeves also committed £725m for the Growth and Skills Levy to support apprenticeships. Training for apprenticeships for under-25s will become free for SMEs as part of plans to boost employment and support growth in the construction industry.

The end of ECO

Reeves has confirmed that the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), originally designed to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions, will be scrapped from April 2026. A portion of the ECO’s funding will instead be redirected to reduce household energy bills by an average of £150 from April next year.

A range of charities and energy companies had urged the government not to cut the scheme, warning that doing so would slow progress towards net zero.

However, the government will invest a further £1.5bn through the Warm Homes Plan to tackle fuel poverty, supplementing the £13.2bn already allocated at the 2025 Spending Review.

Legions for the regions

The government has committed to devolving £13bn in funding for regional leaders to invest in skills, infrastructure and business support projects.

The money will come through integrated settlements from 2026-27 to 2029-30 in areas including Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, North East, South Yorkshire and the Greater London Authority.

If you want more…

Our resident political journo Hannah Fearn appeared on the Big Budget Breakdown episode of the popular podcast ‘Oh God, What Now?’ this week, so if you can’t get enough of the Budget implications dive in here to hear more.

BEYOND THE BUDGET

AT RISK: What should we be worrying about now?

The Regulator of Social Housing has published its Sector Risk Profile for 2025, intended to help Boards have a better understanding of the risks organisations face in an increasingly complex and diverse sector. The document focuses on ensuring the provision of safe and decent homes, managing expectations around new supply, good data management, financial viability and, of course, reputation management.

We’re more than happy to talk to any Boards about assurance and managing reputational risk.

IN OTHER NEWS

In case you missed it…

The Building Safety Regulator will be transferred out of the Health and Safety Executive in January. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced back in June 2025 that the regulator would have its functions moved away from the body and into a new executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the department.

The Renters’ Rights Act finally passed into law and implementation plans for the legislation were published earlier this month by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The new law will be implemented in phases, starting from 1 May 2026. At that point the ban on Section 21 ‘no-fault’ eviction notices, a leading cause of homelessness, will come into force. Tenants will also be able to appeal excessive above-market rent increases that try to force them out, and landlords can no longer unreasonably refuse tenants’ requests to have a pet. Also from 1 May, it will become illegal for landlords and letting agents to increase rent more than once a year, to ask for more than a month’s rent in advance, or to provoke a rental bidding war between prospective tenants for the same property. They will also not be able to discriminate against potential tenants with children or who claim benefit support.

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has launched a call for evidence for its inquiry into regeneration and how to tackle the housing crisis in the north. NHC chief executive Tracy Harrison – who many of you will know – has urged social landlords based in the north of England to respond to help them influence future government policy on regeneration. Meanwhile, our friends at Seddon Housing Partnerships shared their thoughts in HQN’s latest online magazine on why estate regeneration should be central to the nation’s housing plans.

Housing associations are not predicted to have upgraded all their homes to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C or above until 2032, two years after the government’s deadline. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that less than a third of Scottish social landlords have made any provisions in their financial forecasts to meet their net zero obligations. There is a big challenge ahead for housing providers on both sides of the border.

THE HOUGH BELLIS DIGEST

Here’s what our brilliant clients and team have been up to over the last couple of months:

Cardo Group has reported a strong financial and operating performance for the last financial year, with an impressive 74% increase in turnover from £83.6m (FY24) to £145.2m (FY25).

MSV Housing has received approval to develop 212 new homes on the former Reno Nightclub site in Moss Side, which will provide quality, affordable housing for social rent. Meanwhile MSV’s employment and training service won the ‘Talent is Everywhere’ Award at this year’s Get the Nation Learning Awards. The award was given to Positive Futures for the success of its learning and skills support in Moss Side, Manchester. Congratulations!

This National Care Leavers Month, Procure Plus has highlighted its work with key organisations like Right Resolution, which supports young people transitioning from care to independence. Through Re:vision, its charitable subsidiary, Procure Plus has funded an initiative between Right Resolution and Board Horizons to deliver in-house therapy for care leavers aged 16-24.

The brilliant childhood cancer charity The Joshua Tree featured in this year’s Children in Need DIY SOS extravaganza. Well done to all involved!!!! You can catch up on iPlayer here.

We helped to organise a really insightful HQN event on hoarding, bringing together expert speakers who shared practical strategies, lived experience and best-practice approaches for supporting residents affected by hoarding behaviours. We have been busy organising some more great HQN events coming up in the new year, including one on “cuckooing” (where criminals take over the homes of highly vulnerable tenants to run illegal operations) and a two-day annual conference.

We attended an inspiring conference with the Housing Diversity Network, featuring some amazing speakers including the legendary journalist, author and academic Gary Younge. Our managing director Bobbie Hough got a chance to interview Gary ahead of his keynote speech.

That’s all for now. We’ll see you again in early 2026.

Merry Christmas from everyone at Hough Bellis!