By Max Fellows, Founder of allpoints
If you own an events agency, there is a familiar frustration in this Budget: more talk about growth, while the cost of delivering the work continues to rise.
I understand the reaction from our industry bodies. Events help businesses win customers, build relationships and enter new markets. Government should recognise that contribution when making decisions that affect our competitiveness, but what should agency owners actually take from it? For me, there are three things to pay attention to.
Your delivery costs could rise, even if your own payroll barely changes.
Minimum wage rates are due to increase by 3.9% from April 2027. Many agency employees already earn above those levels, but the impact can still reach your event budget through catering, hospitality, security and event staffing.
That matters when you’re pitching today for delivery next summer.
Are supplier prices confirmed for the delivery date? How long are quotes valid? Have you committed to a fixed client budget before securing the costs underneath it?
An agency can win a perfectly respectable piece of work and find that the margin has disappeared before anyone arrives on site. I’d be reviewing live proposals and contracted projects crossing into the new financial year, particularly where costs remain provisional.
Venue support won’t automatically make events cheaper.
There is targeted business rates support for eligible hospitality and leisure businesses. That is welcome, but agency owners shouldn’t assume it will translate into lower venue quotes.
Meanwhile, the absence of hospitality VAT reform remains a frustration raised by the industry. The commercial question is how much of the client’s budget is left for the experience once the essential costs have been covered. If accommodation, catering and staffing take more, something else has to give.
This is where agencies need to bring their expertise into the conversation earlier. Agree what the event must achieve, then make informed decisions about format, destination, delegate numbers and production. Leaving those conversations until after the creative has been approved makes everyone’s job harder.
Residential events need a closer look.
Proposed powers for overnight visitor levies, expected from 2028, introduce another consideration for conferences and incentive programmes booked well ahead.
The detail matters, including where charges apply and how they are calculated. For now, agencies should be clear about assumptions in accommodation budgets and who would carry any additional charge.
For international briefs, it also raises a wider concern: how competitive the UK remains against other destinations once the full cost of attendance is considered.
What I’d be doing as an owner
At Allpoints, I’d want this translated into a practical commercial review: exposure on booked work, the profitability of repeat events and whether account teams have the confidence to discuss changing costs with clients. Repeating last year’s event at last year’s budget needs fresh scrutiny. So does absorbing another round of amendments because nobody wants an awkward conversation. I’ve run events businesses. I know how much effort goes into winning and delivering the work. Owners deserve to see that effort reflected in the return.
My advice is to check the assumptions now, while you still have choices. Once the venue is contracted, the budget is signed off and the team is committed, protecting the margin becomes considerably harder.