The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has delivered the 2025 Autumn Budget, setting out a package aimed at boosting productivity, supporting investment, and strengthening the UK’s industrial base.
For a sheet metal fabrication business supplying into water treatment, materials handling, and construction supply chains, several announcements stand out for their potential impact on the sector.
Industrial Strategy
The Budget reinforces the government’s commitment to its “buy, make and sell more in the UK” philosophy, including targeted support for strategic sectors such as defence, clean energy, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. Many of the sectors we support rely on resilient UK supply chains and domestic fabrication capability. Long-term industrial strategy gives manufacturers the confidence to invest in equipment, skills and capacity, and supports the kind of stable environment SMEs need to plan effectively.
Capital Investment
The Chancellor introduced a new 40% first-year capital allowance, enabling businesses to write off a significant portion of qualifying investment immediately. This measure, combined with commitments to maintain competitive corporate tax levels, is designed to encourage firms to invest in technology, machinery and digital systems. For fabrication businesses, these incentives support the kind of upgrades that directly improve efficiency and traceability. KPBF’s own recent investments — such as live shop-floor data capture and upgrades to fabrication capability — show how effective these improvements can be when aligned with production needs.
Energy Costs
Responding to requests from industry groups like Make UK, the Budget includes a plan to reduce electricity prices for manufacturing businesses. Energy costs remain one of the biggest pressures for fabrication firms. Any move that provides greater stability and cost certainty will help strengthen competitiveness in the face of global supply chain pressures.
Skills and Workforce
The government announced a number of measures to support future skills growth. According to the Budget 2025 summary, under-25 apprenticeships will now be fully funded for SMEs, alongside £13m allocated to regional mayors for skills, business support and local infrastructure. Skills remain a critical issue for manufacturing, particularly in welding. Any initiative that helps build a sustainable skills pipeline is welcome. As an SME, KPBF relies on access to trained people to maintain quality, safety and delivery performance.
Our Commitment
Whatever the future impact of today’s Budget, our priorities remain the same:
- Investing in our people
- Strengthening digital and operational systems
- Maintaining reliable, UK-based fabrication capability
- Supporting manufacturers across water treatment, materials handling and construction supply chains
We will continue to review the Budget detail over the coming days and share further reflections once additional guidance becomes available.
Contact
Kingfisher Profiles, Bending & Fabrication provides manufacturers with certified sheet metal solutions across cutting, folding, fabrication, assembly and value-added processes. If you would like to discuss an upcoming requirement, you can contact the team here:
📞 01249 448 860
✉️ enquiries@kingfisher-pbf.com
Back to News