Budget day is 28 October: build your cost sheet now so you can react in an hour

By Jason Sibley

The date and what comes with it

Budget day is Wednesday 28 October 2026. The Chancellor, John Healey, confirmed the date on 31 July in an HM Treasury announcement on GOV.UK. He repeated it in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee. It's his first Budget as Chancellor. He says it will meet the fiscal rules and give businesses and families some stability to plan.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish its updated Economic and fiscal outlook the same day.

That's all we know. We don't know what's in the Budget and won't guess. This piece explains how to prepare.

None of this is legal, tax or financial advice. Check it against your own books with your accountant.

Why a cost sheet beats reading predictions

Predictions describe businesses in general. Your cost sheet describes yours. When something is announced, you need to know which of your costs it touches and by how much. If your figures are scattered across payroll reports, supplier bills, bank statements and the rates letter, you'll spend the afternoon hunting for them. You'll probably panic or do nothing.

A sheet built now, while it's quiet, will be more accurate than numbers gathered under pressure. It works whatever is announced, even if very little affects you.

For the wider picture on where AI fits with rising staff costs, read labour costs and tax pressure: where AI helps. If you already keep a weekly cashflow sheet, half your figures are in hand.

Build the one-page sheet

Step 1: list the cost lines that policy can move

Start with a short list. Add any line specific to your trade.

• Wages
• Employer National Insurance
• Pension contributions
• Business rates
• Energy
• Fuel
• VAT position (whether you're registered, and what you charge and reclaim)
• Borrowing costs (interest on loans, overdrafts and cards)

Step 2: add the current monthly figure for each

Take the numbers from your own books: your accounting software, payroll reports and latest bills. Use the last full month, or an average of the last three if costs vary. If a bill is annual, divide by twelve and note that you've done so. Where you can't find a figure, write "to find". Don't use a number from memory.

Step 3: name an owner for each number

Put a name beside every line. It might be you, your bookkeeper, your payroll provider or whoever opens the energy bills. On the day, you need to know who can confirm a figure within minutes.

Step 4: add two blank columns

Label one "Change announced" and the other "Effect per month". Leave both empty until 28 October. Add a third, "Start date", because the effective date matters as much as the change.

Step 5: let AI build the structure

This prompt contains no figures, so no payroll or bank details go into the chat. Before pasting real numbers into any AI tool, read our guide on whether ChatGPT is safe for business data.

I run a small business in the UK. I want a one-page cost sheet to prepare for the Budget on 28 October 2026. Build the structure only, as a table I can paste into a spreadsheet.

My cost lines are: wages, employer National Insurance, pension contributions, business rates, energy, fuel, VAT position, borrowing costs. [Add any others here.]

Columns: cost line, current monthly figure, where the figure comes from, who owns it, change announced, start date, effect per month, questions for my accountant.

Rules: do not invent any figures, rates, thresholds or dates. Leave every figure cell blank or write "TO FILL". Do not guess what the Budget will contain. If you think a cost line is missing, ask me at the end instead of adding it. Use British English.

Before 28 October, tick these off:

• [ ] Cost lines listed
• [ ] Current monthly figure filled in from the books, or marked "to find"
• [ ] An owner named against every line
• [ ] Blank columns added for the change, the start date and the monthly effect
• [ ] Sheet shared with your accountant, ready for a quick conversation

On the day

Wait for the official documents. Headlines and social posts squeeze a long document into a sentence, usually losing details that matter to your costs, such as thresholds and start dates. Read the Budget documents on GOV.UK and the OBR's own publication.

When you find a measure that looks relevant, copy its official text into an AI tool, along with your sheet. Take one measure at a time. Use a prompt like this:

Below is the official text of one Budget measure from GOV.UK, followed by my cost sheet. Tell me which of my cost lines the measure might affect, and quote the exact words from the text that you are relying on. Then list the questions I should ask my accountant.

Rules: only use what is in the text I have pasted. Do not invent figures, rates, thresholds or dates. Do not work out an effect in pounds unless every number needed is on my sheet and the rule is in the text. If the text doesn't say who is covered or when it starts, write "CHECK" and tell me what's missing. Use British English.

OFFICIAL TEXT:
[paste here]

MY COST SHEET:
[paste here]

AI can misread effective dates and thresholds. It can also mistake a measure that applies to one type of business for one that applies to yours. Read the quoted sentence yourself before writing anything in the "Change announced" column.

Many measures start later than Budget day. A change announced on 28 October may not touch your costs for some time. Fill in "Start date" before "Effect per month", and treat an empty start date as a question for your accountant.

What to send your accountant

Send your accountant the sheet, the official text and three or four clear questions. A short email will do. This prompt drafts it:

Draft a short, polite email from me to my accountant, under 150 words, in British English. I run [type of business] with [number] staff. I'm attaching my cost sheet and the official GOV.UK text of [name of measure].

Ask them: which of my cost lines they think the measure affects; when it starts for a business like mine; whether there's anything I should do or decide before then; and whether they'd prefer a call or a reply by email.

Do not invent any facts about the measure, my business or my figures. Where you need information I haven't given, put [FILL IN] so I can complete it. Don't give tax advice yourself.

Check the draft, fill in the gaps and send it from your own account. Your accountant will know what applies to your business and what doesn't.

A quick word before you go

At My AI Apprentice we run AI sessions for small businesses, and building a sheet like this is the kind of thing we're happy to do alongside you. No pressure either way.