Fabrication specialist Tadweld is warning that business rates revaluation will “cripple” UK manufacturing and force small firms to the brink.
Tadweld Managing Director Chris Houston says that the April 2026 revaluation will deliver another crushing blow to industrial businesses already under severe cost pressure. He believes that it could push smaller firms towards downsizing or outright closure just months after it comes into force.
The 2026 Business Rates Revaluation in England and Wales takes effect on April 1, 2026, with new rateable values based on commercial rental values as of April 1, 2024. The revaluation is designed to update business rates to reflect market conditions since the last revaluation on April 1, 2021. However, Tadweld says the timing and scale of the increases could not be worse for manufacturing businesses already facing unprecedented cost pressures.
Under the new system, England will introduce five tiered multipliers, replacing the previous two-rate structure, while Wales will continue with its own framework. Although some reliefs may be available for certain Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) sectors, industrial and manufacturing premises are expected to be among the hardest hit. Businesses are being urged to check their new rateable values on GOV.UK and consider appeals before the March 31 2026 deadline for challenging current valuations.
Chris Houston said: “Historically, business rates were revaluated every five years – in reality, closer to every 5.5 years since 1990. The government has now moved to a three-year cycle, meaning businesses were hit with increases in 2023 and are now facing further increases again in April 2026. This is relentless.”
Industry data suggests the average increase in rateable values is 19.3%, with retail at 9.3%, but industrial and warehousing businesses facing average increases of between 21% and 28%.
“Manufacturing and warehousing are being hammered the hardest. These are exactly the sectors the UK relies on for productivity, exports and skilled jobs – yet they’re being treated as an easy target.”
Tadweld argues the revaluation lands at a time when businesses are already reeling from a series of government-imposed cost increases from Corporation Tax, Employer NICs and the increased National Minimum Wage.
“Despite claims of being pro-business and pro-growth, this revaluation couldn’t have come at a worse time,” Houston added. “It’s a triple-punch to employers who are already struggling to balance the books.”
Tadweld, which is an SME steel fabrication business operating across the UK, employs 50 people from its local community. Houston warns that for many firms of similar size, the impact could be existential:
“We employ 50 people from our local community, and at a point where businesses are feeling attacked on all sides by government policy, this is yet another cost increase that has to be found from somewhere. These cost increases mean less money to invest, less money for staff, and ultimately they hamper our ability to grow and create jobs.”
He added that smaller manufacturers, already operating on tight margins, may have no room left to absorb further increases:
“For many small manufacturers, this will be the tipping point. You can only absorb so much before investment stops, recruitment freezes, or sites simply close. Once manufacturing capacity is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.”
Houston also pointed to growing evidence that business confidence is collapsing under the weight of repeated policy shocks:
“Unfortunately, businesses have become the ‘sacrificial lamb’, expected to fill the black hole in public finances. The Institute of Directors is now reporting record-low business confidence - lower even than during the depths of the Covid pandemic. That should be ringing alarm bells in Westminster.”
Tadweld is calling on the government to rethink how business rates impact productive industries and to offer meaningful relief for manufacturers ahead of April 2026.
“If the government genuinely wants businesses to grow, invest and improve productivity, it urgently needs to start supporting them rather than continuously handcuffing them. Without change, this revaluation risks doing long-term damage to UK manufacturing that will be felt for years to come.”
Photo: Chris Houston, Managing Director of Tadweld
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