Key highlights

Tax, savings and pensions

• ISA reform: £20,000 allowance retained, but £8,000 reserved for investments; over‑65s keep full cash flexibility.
• Income tax thresholds: Freeze extended to 2031, creating c.1m new taxpayers and 750,000 new higher‑rate taxpayers; Treasury gains £50bn over the decade.
• Capital gains tax relief: Reduced on disposals to employee ownership trusts, raising £0.9bn.
• Pension protection: Pre‑1997 pensions indexed to inflation in the protection fund.
• Salary‑sacrificed pensions: From April 2029, contributions above £2,000 annually subject to NI (raising £4.7bn in 2029–30).
• Property tax: New High Value Council Tax surcharge (‘mansion tax’) from April 2028 on homes valued at £2m and more.
• Savings, dividends and property tax: Rates increased by 2 percentage points, raising £2.1bn.
• State pension: From April 2026, rises in line with wages means new flat‑rate pension up £574.60/year; old basic pension up £439.40/year.

Cost of living and welfare

• Energy bills: Green levies cut saving households c.£150 a year, up to £300 for lower income families.
• Two‑child benefit cap: Scrapped from April 2026, lifting c.630,000 children out of poverty immediately.
• Universal Credit uplift: +£295 a year for singles, +£465 for couples.
• Prescriptions: Frozen under £10 until 2026, saving patients c.£12m next year.
• Rail fares: Freeze on regulated fares, saving commuters c.£300 a year.
• Student loan support: Care leavers entitled to full maintenance loans (£13,500 per year).
• Help to Save: Made permanent from 2028, boosting savings of 4.5m low earners by 50%.
• Neighbourhood health centres: 250 new centres to improve access in deprived areas.
• NHS technology: £300m capital investment to boost productivity and reduce admin.
• Playgrounds and libraries: £18m for 200 playgrounds; £5m to refresh school libraries.

Wages and employment

• Minimum wage increases (April 2026):
  • National Living Wage: £12.71/hour (+4.1%), worth +£900/year for full‑time workers.
  • 18–20 Minimum Wage: £10.85/hour (+8.5%), worth +£1,500/year.
  • Apprentices (16–17): £8/hour (+6%).

Transport and energy

• Fuel duty: Frozen until September 2026.
• EV mileage‑based charges: From April 2028, 3p per mile for EVs and 1.5p for hybrids (raising £1.4bn).
• Infrastructure: £2bn annual local roads funding; Lower Thames Crossing and DLR extension.
• Housing: 350 new planners hired to support target of 1.5m homes; three new towns planned.
• Energy security: First small modular reactors at Wylfa; nuclear project acceleration.

Fiscal responsibility and fraud

• Borrowing: Forecast to fall each year; UK reducing borrowing faster than other G7 nations.
• Stability buffer: Doubled to £21.7bn by 2029–30.
• Inflation: OBR forecasts Budget measures will cut CPI by 0.4 points in 2026–27.
• Benefit fraud crackdown: Targeted Case Review expected to save £9.6bn by 2031.

Source: Gov.uk