PACKAGING
T
he autumn budget of 2025 has landed, and the print and packaging sector is now assessing the implications of a fiscal statement that delivered both expected measures and a few unwelcome surprises.
As Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined a programme shaped by “necessary choices,” industry leaders immediately turned their attention to what the announcements mean for cost pressures, regulatory obligations and investment plans in the year ahead.
THE BUDGET BREAKDOWN In the buildup to the budget, much of the national debate centred on the career prospects of the Chancellor and her party leader. The packaging industry cannot afford to indulge in Westminster psychodrama, however, for a sector already balancing rising material prices and intensifying sustainability demands, the reveal of the budget must be met with a rapid response. Much of the immediate reaction has
centred on the regulatory environment, particularly the increase to the Plastic already standing at £223.69 per tonne and applied to almost 5,000 registered businesses, the tightening of recycled content requirements comes at a time when recycled polymers remain more expensive than virgin material and domestic recycling capacity continues to contract. The planned shift towards a higher recycled-content threshold, combined with signals of a longer-
AUTUMN BUDGET 2025: THE PRINT & PACKAGING
INDUSTRY REACTS Packaging Innovations & Empack looks at how the budget of 2025 is being received across the print and packaging sector
around rising overheads and the widening gap between policy ambition and on-the- ground infrastructure. More warmly received was the
announcement of a £1.5bn skills package aimed at tackling the UK’s entrenched labour shortages and sluggish productivity. This will see apprenticeships, digital training, employer incentives and AI-focused programmes brought together under a single, more targeted framework. This is aimed at closing skills shortages across engineering, manufacturing, construction, health and the AI sector. While many headlines focus on the
measures that are in the budget, some measures are attracting attention for their tax by scrapping its lower rate was dropped, as the government seemingly listened to concerns raised by the construction and
24 DECEMBER 2025/JANUARY 2026 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
waste management sectors. This has businesses looking to build new facilities in the UK. Another proposal that did not make its
way into the red briefcase is a progressive PPT escalator to raise the recycled-content threshold from 30 per cent to 50 per cent over this Parliament, backed by a clearer long-term tax roadmap. Many stakeholders argue that this is essential to stabilise the market and stimulate demand for high- quality UK-reprocessed plastics. To capture the full picture of how the
sector is responding, Packaging Innovations & Empack 2026 invited leaders from across print, packaging, recycling, materials and design to share their immediate reactions, offering a candid, cross-industry view of what the Budget gets right, what it has overlooked and where businesses now go next.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
