BIA submission to Autumn Budget 2026
The BIA has submitted its representation to HM Treasury for the Autumn Budget 2026.
In our submission we ask for bold steps to back British companies and show that this government can enable wealth creation, ensure founders and investors are rewarded, and repetition and reinvestment encouraged. The proposals in this submission will give UK life science and biotech companies home and away advantages in a global race for innovation and growth, so that they choose to start here, scale here, stay here, and serve the world from here.
We call for government to:
- Rephase UKRI and Innovate UK funding from FY28-29 into FY27–28, ensuring UKRI deploys this funding at pace and with guidelines shaped in collaboration with industry to define diligence and decision-making.
- Expand and target BBB budget for direct and funds programmes, ensuring resources delivered for a larger team to deploy and support life sciences along the private funding continuum.
- Increase access to private finance, incentivising and directing pension fund investment in venture capital and developing new investment instruments linking the financial services and life sciences sectors.
- Create preferential access to publicly funded R&D infrastructure, data, expertise and business support for UK life sciences SMEs and high potential companies, ensuring public investment delivers greater value for UK growth.
- Protect and strengthen R&D tax credits for UK biotech and R&D service businesses, restore ERIS rate to 33p/£ by focusing credits exclusively on IS8 sectors, and include capital expenditure.
- Meet the commitments of the UK-US Pharmaceutical Arrangement