A blank studio equipment budget template with VAT and labour tabs

What to take away

The blank studio equipment budget template with VAT and labour tabs has eight tabs. The core five are Read me, Header, Cost register, VAT and Labour; Scenarios, Control gates and Totals and approval follow.
Copy the blank field lists below into a controlled workbook. Keep every value cell empty until dated evidence exists.
Define one production workflow and one acceptance unit before the first figure goes in.
Separate gross cash, recoverable VAT and net economic cost. A qualified tax reviewer approves the actual treatment.
Enter contractor status from contract facts about control and responsibilities, not from an invoice or job title.
Vary one traceable input at a time in scenarios. Show both changes if numerator and denominator move together.
Pause the budget when tolerance is breached, a quotation expires or a mandatory gate stays unresolved.

Template tabs and header fields

Build the workbook in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc. Google Sheets is free with a Google account. LibreOffice Calc is free and open source. Excel comes with a Microsoft 365 subscription, typically £5 to £11 per user each month in the UK as of 2026.

Give the workbook an owner, a version, an approval ceiling and a review date. Store evidence outside the public draft if it holds personal or commercially sensitive data. The template is not an England price benchmark.

Tab	Blank fields to create
Read me	budget owner, version, approval ceiling, review date, evidence location, scope statement, rollback route
Header	project, England location, legal buyer, budget owner, delivery owner, decision horizon, output denominator, GBP currency, VAT basis, accounting period, version, last update
Cost register	item, quantity and unit, GBP basis, period, evidence, scope, control
VAT	supplier, invoice date, invoice reference, net GBP, VAT GBP, gross GBP, rate applied, recoverability, recoverable VAT, irrecoverable VAT, evidence, reviewer
Labour	task, role, worker reference, contract type, planned hours, approved hours, actual hours, loaded GBP rate, rate period, employer costs included, output units, approver
Scenarios	case, changed input, old value, new value, effect on cash, effect on unit cost, evidence
Control gates	gate, owner, evidence required, status, date cleared, tolerance, reforecast trigger
Totals and approval	committed cash, full economic cost, GBP per accepted unit, variance, remaining contingency, unresolved evidence, sign-off

Read me tab, blank header row:

budget owner	version	approval ceiling	review date	evidence location	scope statement	rollback route

Header tab, blank header row:

project	England location	legal buyer	budget owner	delivery owner	decision horizon	output denominator	GBP currency	VAT basis	accounting period	version	last update

Define accepted output precisely: the technical, rights and accessibility checks that a recording must pass before it counts in the denominator.

Cost register

Field / Required entry

item: exact product, plan, task or risk allowance
quantity and unit: devices, users, hours, months or another defined unit
GBP basis: amount including or excluding VAT, with recoverability stated
period: payment date and service or use period
evidence: quotation, invoice, payroll record, contract or labelled scenario
scope: inclusions, exclusions, dependency and confidence
control: owner, approval status, tolerance and reforecast trigger

Cost register tab, blank header row:

item	quantity and unit	GBP basis	period	evidence	scope	control

Group the cash lines. Acquisition and installation stand apart from production labour. Software, storage and premises take their own rows, as do utilities, insurance and accessibility. Safety, privacy and security need separate lines. So do rights and training. Maintenance, correction, downtime and exit take lines too.

A zero requires evidence or an explicit assumption; it must not mean forgotten.

Cost Register Required Fields

itemexact product, plan, task or risk
quantity and unitdevices, users, hours, months
GBP basisincluding or excluding VAT
periodpayment date and service period
evidencequotation, invoice, payroll record, contract
scopeinclusions, exclusions, dependency and confidence
controlowner, approval status, tolerance, reforecast trigger

VAT tab and labour tab

The VAT tab holds one row per purchase invoice. Its blank header row, ready to copy:

supplier	invoice date	invoice reference	net GBP	VAT GBP	gross GBP	rate applied	recoverability	recoverable VAT	irrecoverable VAT	evidence	reviewer

Pick the rate from 20% standard, 5% reduced, 0% zero-rated, exempt or outside the scope. Record whether the VAT is fully recoverable, partly recoverable or blocked. Registration is required once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period, a threshold unchanged since April 2024.

Two blank formulas drive the tab:

recoverable VAT in GBP = VAT charged x recoverability percentage

irrecoverable VAT in GBP = VAT charged minus recoverable VAT

HMRC's VAT record guidance explains the purchase-invoice evidence used by VAT-registered businesses. Put gross cash, recoverable VAT and net economic cost in separate fields. A qualified tax reviewer must approve the actual treatment.

The Labour tab holds one row per person per task. Its blank header row:

task	role	worker reference	contract type	planned hours	approved hours	actual hours	loaded GBP rate	rate period	employer costs included	output units	approver

For staff work, enter the task, hours, approved loaded GBP rate, rate period and employer costs. Employer National Insurance has been 15% since 6 April 2025, with the secondary threshold at £5,000 a year.

GOV.UK says eligible staff may create workplace pension contribution duties; use current employer pension guidance for the actual worker. The auto-enrolment minimum employer contribution is 3% of qualifying earnings.

For contractors, HMRC's employment-status tool guidance requires facts about the contract, responsibilities, control and payment; do not assume status from an invoice or job title.

Scenario and control tabs

Keep downside, working and upside cases as editorial planning scenarios without assigned probabilities unless evidence supports them. Vary one traceable input at a time: utilisation, an extra licence or a repair. Delay, a failed output or an exit date also qualify. Do not alter both numerator and denominator without showing both changes.

Scenarios tab, blank header row:

case	changed input	old value	new value	effect on cash	effect on unit cost	evidence

Control gates tab, blank header row:

gate	owner	evidence required	status	date cleared	tolerance	reforecast trigger

Add non-compensating gates for work-equipment safety, access and data. Security, rights, contract and finance need their own gates. HSE's PUWER overview helps define the equipment evidence and training owner. The NCSC's small-organisation backup guidance supports a funded restore test rather than an untested backup line.

Totals and approval

Use blank formulas:

total committed cash in GBP = sum of signed payment obligations in the period

full economic cost in GBP = non-recoverable cash + approved labour + overhead allocation + risk and exit allowances

GBP per accepted unit = full economic cost divided by accepted in-scope units

Totals and approval tab, blank header row:

committed cash	full economic cost	GBP per accepted unit	variance	remaining contingency	unresolved evidence	sign-off

Add two variance formulas without prefilled amounts:

cash variance in GBP = actual cash paid minus authorised cash budget

unit-cost variance in GBP = actual GBP per accepted unit minus approved GBP per accepted unit

Show whether a variance comes from price, quantity, timing, rejected work or a changed denominator. The budget owner should not offset an overspend with an unverified benefit. Record the evidence date and corrective action beside the variance.

The approval page should show variance against the authorised ceiling, remaining contingency, unresolved evidence and each specialist decision. Pause when tolerance is breached, a quotation expires or a mandatory gate is unresolved. Preserve the last approved version, rollback route and restart authority.

Before you act

Define one production workflow and acceptance unit first
Give the workbook an owner, version, ceiling and review date
Attach dated evidence to every value, including zeros
Split gross cash, recoverable VAT and net economic cost
Record evidence date and corrective action beside each variance
Preserve the last approved version and rollback route
Name a tab owner for VAT, labour and control gates

Common questions

What evidence must support each value in the template?

Every value stays blank until it has a dated invoice, quotation, payroll record, contract or approved scenario source. A zero requires evidence or an explicit assumption, and it must not mean forgotten. Store evidence outside the public draft if it contains personal or commercially sensitive data.

How should VAT be handled in the cost register?

Put gross cash, recoverable VAT and net economic cost in separate fields, and state whether the GBP basis includes or excludes VAT with recoverability. HMRC's VAT record guidance explains the purchase-invoice evidence used by VAT-registered businesses. A qualified tax reviewer must approve the actual treatment.

When should the budget be paused?

Pause when tolerance is breached, a quotation expires or a mandatory gate is unresolved. Add non-compensating gates for work-equipment safety, access, data and security. Rights, contract and finance need gates too. The budget owner should not offset an overspend with an unverified benefit, and the approval page should show unresolved evidence.