Budget Month and the FM Owner's Year-End Timetable

The NoiseNothing in a Budget that has not happened is actionable

There is a Budget at the end of this month and I have no more idea than you do what will be in it. What I can say with confidence is that a facilities management sale generally needs six to nine months once a buyer has been approached, and often twelve with preparation counted, so a decision made this week on the basis of a rumour is a decision about a rate that may not exist by the time you complete.

The pattern I see every autumn is owners pausing. A conversation that was progressing stops in October and restarts in December, and the two months are gone. If the business is not ready, those months were the ones available to get it ready, and no Budget changes that.

The more useful posture is the plain one. Plan against what has already been announced and dated, keep preparing, and revisit in December when the detail is published rather than speculated about.

The KnownWhat is already announced, dated and worth planning against

Business Asset Disposal Relief has been 14% since 6 April 2025 and rises to 18% on 6 April 2026. The relief remains capped at £1m of qualifying gains over a lifetime, the qualifying conditions run for the two years ending on disposal, and the completion date governs which rate applies rather than the date terms are agreed.

The second announced change is on inheritance tax rather than capital gains. Business property relief, which has allowed qualifying business assets to pass without an inheritance tax charge, is being capped from April 2026, with full relief limited to a set amount of combined business and agricultural assets and partial relief above it. For an owner intending to hold the business into retirement rather than sell it, that is a change worth putting in front of your own tax adviser now rather than in 2026.

Both of those were announced over a year ago and neither depends on what happens this month. Between them they cover most of the tax questions an FM owner actually faces, which is the point: the dated facts available to you are more useful than the undated ones being discussed.

Plan against what has been announced and dated. Revisit in December, when the detail is published rather than speculated about.

The WorkThe year-end work that shortens diligence later

Adjusted EBITDA first. Set out this year's addbacks while you still remember what each one was, with the evidence attached: the one-off legal cost, the vehicle written off, the owner's remuneration restated to a market rate for the job actually done. Addbacks argued from memory two years later are the ones a buyer refuses, and every refused addback comes off the price at the multiple.

Then the contract register, updated rather than rebuilt. Every contract with its current end date, notice period, any variation agreed during the year, and whether the renewal decision falls in the coming twelve months. Owners who do this once a year in November are never asked a contract question they cannot answer.

Then the housekeeping nobody enjoys: director loan accounts cleared or documented, related party transactions identified, dilapidations and lease ends on your own premises noted, and any personal expenditure running through the company either stopped or listed. None of it changes what the business is worth. All of it changes how long it takes a buyer to satisfy themselves about what the business is worth, and time is where price gets renegotiated.