UK manufacturing faces another major blow after a leading steel fabrication firm warned the 2026 business rates revaluation could push smaller manufacturers to the brink.
Tadweld, a UK-based steel fabrication and engineering business, said the revaluation due to take effect in April 2026 risks “crippling” manufacturers already under intense financial strain.
The warning comes from Tadweld managing director Chris Houston, who said the changes “could not be worse” for an industry grappling with rising costs and shrinking margins.
The business rates revaluation in England and Wales will come into force on April 1, 2026, with new rateable values based on commercial rental values from April 1, 2024.
While the revaluation is intended to reflect changes in the property market since 2021, Tadweld said the scale and timing of the increases threaten to overwhelm manufacturing businesses.
Under the new system, England will move from two multipliers to five tiered multipliers, while Wales will retain its own framework.
Although some reliefs are expected to apply to parts of the retail, hospitality and leisure sector, industrial and manufacturing premises are forecast to be among the hardest hit.
Businesses have been urged to check their new rateable values on GOV.UK and consider appeals ahead of the March 31, 2026 deadline.
Houston said the revaluation represents “a staggering blow to industry”, warning that manufacturers are facing repeated cost increases in quick succession.
He said business rates were previously revaluated roughly every five years, but the shift to a three-year cycle means firms faced rises in 2023 and are now being hit again in 2026.
“This is relentless,” he said.
Industry data suggests average rateable value increases of 19.3%, compared with 9.3% for retail, while industrial and warehousing businesses face rises of between 21% and 28%.
“Manufacturing and warehousing are being hammered the hardest,” Houston said, adding that these sectors underpin productivity, exports and skilled jobs.
Tadweld said the revaluation comes on top of what it described as a “triple-punch” of rising employment and tax costs.
These include an increase in corporation tax from 19% to 25% in 2024, significant rises in employers’ National Insurance contributions in 2025, and an 11.1% increase in the National Minimum Wage between April 2024 and April 2026.
“Despite claims of being pro-business and pro-growth, this revaluation couldn’t have come at a worse time,” Houston said.
Tadweld employs 50 people and operates as an SME steel fabrication business serving customers across the UK.
Houston warned that for firms of a similar size, the impact of further cost increases 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,” he said.
“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 operating on tight margins may be forced into difficult decisions.
“For many small manufacturers, this will be the tipping point,” Houston said. “You can only absorb so much before investment stops, recruitment freezes, or sites simply close.”
Houston also pointed to falling business confidence, warning that repeated policy changes are eroding trust across the sector.
“Unfortunately, businesses have become the ‘sacrificial lamb’, expected to fill the black hole in public finances,” he said.
He cited figures from the Institute of Directors showing business confidence at record lows, below levels seen during the Covid pandemic.
“That should be ringing alarm bells in Westminster,” he added.
Tadweld is now calling on the government to rethink how business rates affect productive industries and to provide 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,” Houston said.
“Without change, this revaluation risks doing long-term damage to UK manufacturing that will be felt for years to come.”