SEIS and EIS head into the 28 October Budget with record SEIS use
SEIS and EIS enter the Autumn Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026 in unusual shape. HMRC data reported on 10 July 2026 shows the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) raised a record £276m in 2024-25, while the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) plateaued at £1,575m. Chancellor John Healey delivers his first Budget.
The detail sits in the figures reported by Startups Magazine back on 10 July 2026. SEIS reached 2,430 companies through a record 57,780 subscriptions. EIS reached 3,735 companies through 169,190 subscriptions, the third annual fall in a row and the lowest count since 2016-17.
Those two lines are the backdrop to a Budget where, according to SyndicateRoom's preview of 2 September 2026, analysts estimate a £22bn fiscal gap to close without raising income tax, employee National Insurance or VAT. For a founder raising a seed round on tax relief, the question is whether anything in that arithmetic touches the schemes. Earlier coverage of the three year SEIS holding period explains why the answer matters beyond the headline rate.
What is confirmed about the 28 October Budget
The date and the Chancellor are confirmed - for now. Cambridge Network reported on 28 September 2026 that Healey announced a Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026, about four weeks earlier than the 2025 Budget. That report mentions no change to any investor tax relief.
What has already changed is on the venture trust side. SyndicateRoom's preview records that the Budget of 26 November 2025 cut Venture Capital Trust (VCT) income tax relief from 30 per cent to 20 per cent for shares issued on or after 6 April 2026. The £200,000 annual subscription limit stayed, so the most relief an investor can claim in a year fell from £60,000 to £40,000. The same Budget doubled the annual and lifetime EIS and VCT company investment limits for standard and knowledge-intensive companies.
The consequences for early-stage supply were set out in earlier reporting on the predicted £550 million VCT shortfall. No new measure on SEIS or EIS has been published. SyndicateRoom's preview says both schemes were mostly left alone in the 2024 and 2025 Budgets, and its author Tom Britton writes: "I wouldn't assume they're the exception a third time." That is one adviser's opinion, from a platform with a commercial interest, and not announced policy.
Why SEIS use is rising while EIS slips
The HMRC figures show two schemes moving in opposite directions, and they do not explain why. Graham Schwikkard at SyndicateRoom said: "Put simply, the incentive did its job," and added: "We do not expect EIS to keep sliding." Those are expectations, not data.
One reading the evidence supports is that access to the schemes is uneven. The Startup Coalition roadshow, covered in reporting on its 230 founder conversations, found awareness of EMI and EIS high in London and Cambridge and patchier elsewhere. A record SEIS year does not tell a founder in Leeds or Belfast whether the same adviser network is within reach.
The practical reading is that the supply of early money, not the headline rate, is what a founder feels first. The VCT cut is the one dated change in the data that reduces a pool of seed and early growth capital. The records for SEIS show demand for the relief is strong, which makes any future change to its rules more consequential than the numbers might suggest.
How the £1bn Scale-up Fund fits the same debate
Growth capital for companies past seed is the other half of the Budget conversation. Pensions Age reported on 27 July 2026 that Railpen, Nest, LPPI, LGPS Central and Border to Coast are exploring a Scale-up Fund of more than £1bn, working with the British Business Bank and the Office for Investment. The fund is proposed, not established, and the report gives no launch date.
Railpen chief executive Andy Bord said "disciplined, patient capital can help growing companies scale". The talks between the pension funds and the British Business Bank and the race among M&G, Schroders and others to run the fund were covered when they surfaced. As of 12 October 2026 no manager appointment had been reported in the sources reviewed.
What UK founders raising on SEIS can ask before 28 October
Founders cannot plan around a Budget that has not happened, but they can check three things. First, whether an investor's commitment depends on the relief or on the company. Second, what the term sheet says about transfers if the investor wants to sell before the end of the three year period. Third, how the next round would look if the supply of early-stage money tightens.
The three year period is a condition of the tax relief rather than a legal lock on the shares, as set out in this analysis of the three year rule. HMRC has not ruled on how tokenised shares fit that framework. This is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
Key takeaways
The Autumn Budget is on Wednesday 28 October 2026, and no change to SEIS or EIS has been announced.
HMRC data reported on 10 July 2026 shows SEIS raised a record £276m in 2024-25, while EIS reached £1,575m through 169,190 subscriptions, the lowest count since 2016-17.
VCT income tax relief fell from 30 per cent to 20 per cent for shares issued from 6 April 2026.
The proposed £1bn Scale-up Fund has no confirmed launch date or manager in the sources reviewed on 12 October 2026.
This is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
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