Right Fuel Card is calling on the Chancellor to freeze fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament and introduce targeted support for sole traders and small businesses. The measures are set out in a five-point plan published ahead of the Budget on 28 October.
The plan follows new Right Fuel Card research among UK fleet decision-makers. Sixty per cent rank fuel as their single biggest cost pressure — more than twice the proportion citing vehicle maintenance. Almost half (45%) expect fuel costs to erode profits over the next year, while just 14% are confident they could withstand further price rises.
Right Fuel Card is asking the Government to:
- Freeze fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament — turn May’s delay into a firm, long-term commitment rather than a pause renewed at each Budget.
- Create an essential-user fuel rebate for trade vans and sole traders — base eligibility on vehicle class rather than operator-licensing status, unlike European schemes that exclude most UK small businesses.
- Make the public sector lead on fair fuel-cost pass-through — include fuel-cost adjustment clauses in contracts with SME suppliers, in line with established practice in large haulage contracts.
- Protect and simplify EV transition funding for the smallest fleets — ensure sole traders and micro-fleets can access support currently designed for larger operators.
- Make small-business impact assessments standard in every fuel-duty decision — require a formal assessment of the effect on sole traders and micro-fleets before any future change.
David James, Revenue Director at Right Fuel Card, said: “For many of our customers, fuel accounts for 25–30% of operating expenses. That applies not only to large transport companies, but to small businesses too. The key difference is the industry: outside transport and logistics, fuel may represent a smaller share of costs, making price shocks easier to absorb. For businesses that rely on vehicles every day, however, soaring prices threaten livelihoods — whatever their size.”
James added: “The strongest long-term protection against fuel-price volatility is for small fleets to transition to electric vehicles.”
The whitepaper also found that smaller businesses are more exposed than larger ones. Nearly a third (31%) of mid-sized businesses with 100–249 employees have already raised customer prices, compared with 23% of large enterprises with 3,000 or more employees. A further 18% of mid-sized businesses say they may have to shrink their fleet — an option no large enterprise surveyed was considering.
Read the full whitepaper and five-point plan:
https://www.rightfuelcard.co.uk/news/fuel-price-fleet-impact-whitepaper
https://www.rightfuelcard.co.uk/news/5-point-plan-fuel-duty-policy
