Autumn Budget 2026: What Was Announced
The Autumn Budget 2026 was delivered on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Here is what was announced, measure by measure, with who it affects, when it starts and the calculator that shows what it means for you.
Delivered
Wednesday 28 October 2026
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon John Healey MP (appointed 20 July 2026), presented his first Budget. There is no rise in the headline rates of income tax, National Insurance contributions or VAT; the biggest personal-tax changes are higher rates on savings and property income, a smaller Business Asset Disposal Relief limit, a new Pension Tax Allowance and a larger Trading Allowance.
Most measures start on 6 April 2027, the first day of the 2027-28 tax year. Until then the 2026-27 rules below stay in force.
What Was Announced
Each measure as HM Treasury and HMRC published it on 28 October 2026, with who it affects and when it starts. Announced measures still need Finance Bill 2026-27 or secondary legislation; we note anything the Budget documents leave open further down.
Budget 2026 guides by reader
Income tax, National Insurance and Self Assessment
No rise in the headline rates of income tax, National Insurance contributions or VAT
2027-28 tax yearWho it affects: Every taxpayer
HMRC's 2027-28 rates table keeps income tax at 20% / 40% / 45% and the Personal Allowance at £12,570. Employee National Insurance stays 8% on earnings between the Primary Threshold and the Upper Earnings Limit and 2% above it; Class 4 for the self-employed stays 6% and 2%.
Trading Allowance rises from £1,000 to £3,000
6 April 2027Who it affects: Side income from trading and miscellaneous income
Up to £3,000 a year of trading and miscellaneous income becomes tax-free. The property allowance is not part of the measure.
Business mileage rate above 10,000 miles rises from 25p to 35p
6 April 2027Who it affects: Employees paid mileage, and the self-employed using simplified mileage
The 55p rate for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van is made permanent, and the rate above that rises to 35p.
The £2,500 Self Assessment threshold for employment expenses is removed
6 April 2028Who it affects: Employees claiming relief on unreimbursed job expenses
Claims above £2,500 no longer force you into Self Assessment: more employees will be able to claim through PAYE.
A handful of National Insurance figures rise with inflation
6 April 2027Who it affects: Low earners, the self-employed and voluntary NI payers
The Lower Earnings Limit rises to £133 a week, the Class 2 Small Profits Threshold to £7,355 a year, voluntary Class 2 to £3.80 a week and voluntary Class 3 to £19.05 a week. The other NI thresholds stay where they are.
Making Tax Digital: no penalty points for the April 2027 group's first year, and some groups exempted
6 April 2027Who it affects: Sole traders and landlords joining MTD for Income Tax on 6 April 2027
Taxpayers joining in April 2027 get no late-submission penalty points on their first four quarterly updates for 2027-28. Exempt until further notice: those eligible for qualifying care relief, non-UK resident foreign entertainers and sportspeople and expected non-resident customers. The qualifying-income threshold for the April 2027 wave is unchanged at £30,000.
Savings, ISAs and investments
Savings income tax rates rise to 24% / 44% / 49%
6 April 2027Who it affects: Anyone with interest above their Personal Savings Allowance, UK-wide
Budget 2025 had already legislated 22% / 42% / 47% from April 2027; this Budget adds two more points at each band from the same date. The Personal Savings Allowance stays £1,000 for basic rate and £500 for higher rate taxpayers, and interest inside an ISA stays tax-free.
Cash ISA limit stays £20,000: the planned cut is cancelled
6 April 2027Who it affects: Cash ISA savers, especially those under 65
The £12,000 cash limit for under-65s announced at Budget 2025 will not happen. The overall ISA allowance stays £20,000 and the Junior ISA limit £9,000.
Lifetime ISA charge on homes above the £450,000 cap cut to 20%; a First Time Buyer ISA replaces the LISA for new savers
29 October 2026Who it affects: First-time buyers saving in a Lifetime ISA
From 29 October 2026 the withdrawal charge for buying a first home above the £450,000 price cap falls to 20%; every other unauthorised withdrawal still costs 25%. New savers move to a First Time Buyer ISA from 6 April 2029; existing Lifetime ISA holders carry on under the current rules.
Business Asset Disposal Relief lifetime limit halves to £500,000; new 10% Founders' Relief
6 April 2027Who it affects: Business owners selling a company or business
For disposals from 6 April 2027 the BADR lifetime limit falls from £1 million to £500,000; the 18% rate is unchanged. A new Founders' Relief charges 10% on up to £10 million of lifetime gains for qualifying founders of high-growth, innovative companies from 6 April 2027.
Property and landlords
Property income tax rates rise to 24% / 44% / 49%
6 April 2027Who it affects: Landlords in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Rental profits get their own rates from 6 April 2027: two points more than the 22% / 42% / 47% Budget 2025 had legislated. Relief for mortgage interest and other finance costs stays at the property basic rate, now 24%.
High Value Council Tax Surcharge on homes worth £2 million or more in England
April 2028Who it affects: Owners (not occupiers) of high-value homes in England
Announced at Budget 2025; Budget 2026 confirms a deferral scheme, discounts and exemptions. An annual charge on top of council tax, with first bills in March 2028: £2,500 for homes worth £2 million to £2.5 million; £3,500 for homes worth £2.5 million to £3.5 million; £5,000 for homes worth £3.5 million to £5 million; £7,500 for homes worth £5 million or more. Owners can defer it with household income of £35,000 or less, capital of £16,000 or less, or where a household member meets the disability criteria.
Pensions and the State Pension
New Pension Tax Allowance for pensioners on low incomes
6 April 2027 to 5 April 2030Who it affects: People over State Pension age, or reaching it within the tax year, whose total income is up to the value of the full new State Pension
A tax reduction, not a change to the Personal Allowance. HMRC's 2027-28 rates table gives the full allowance where total income is below £13,037 and none from £13,319, so a pensioner whose only income is the full new State Pension pays no income tax in 2027-28.
Triple Lock kept to April 2029, adjusted from April 2030
April 2030Who it affects: Current and future State Pension recipients
The State Pension keeps rising by the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5% through April 2029. From April 2030 the earnings limb becomes the rise needed to hold its value relative to earnings as it stood in April 2029.
Employers and businesses
National Living Wage rises 3.9% to £13.21 an hour
1 April 2027Who it affects: Workers on the minimum wage and the businesses that pay them
The rate for 18 to 20-year-olds rises to £11.27 and the rate for 16 to 17-year-olds and apprentices to £8.31. Employer National Insurance stays 15% and the Employment Allowance £10,500.
Main-rate first-year allowance up to 50%; writing-down allowance down to 12%
1 January 2027Who it affects: Businesses buying plant and machinery
The main-rate first-year allowance rises from 40% to 50% for expenditure from 1 January 2027. The main-pool writing-down allowance falls from 14% to 12% from 1 April 2027 for companies and 6 April 2027 for unincorporated businesses.
Company cars and benefits: payrolling from 6 April 2027, higher 2030-31 car rates
6 April 2027Who it affects: Employers providing benefits in kind, and company car drivers
Employers must payroll company cars and vans, fuel and medical benefits from 6 April 2027, and most other benefits from 6 April 2028. For 2030-31 the zero-emission car rate rises from 9% to 10%, the 1 to 50g CO2/km band from 19% to 20%, and every other band by one point, up to 40%.
Employee share options: the CSOP (now EMI2) limit doubles to £120,000
6 April 2027Who it affects: Growing companies granting share options, and their employees
The tax-advantaged options an employee can hold under the Company Share Option Plan, renamed EMI2, rise from £60,000 to £120,000.
Bank surcharge temporarily doubles to 6%
1 January 2027Who it affects: Banks only
The surcharge on bank profits rises from 3% to 6% from 1 January 2027 to 31 March 2028, returning to 3% from 1 April 2028. The main Corporation Tax rate stays 25% and the small profits rate 19%.
Motoring, families and students
The 5p fuel duty cut is extended to 30 June 2027
1 July 2027Who it affects: Drivers and businesses buying petrol and diesel
Duty on petrol and diesel stays 52.95p a litre until 30 June 2027. On 1 July 2027 the cut ends and the deferred inflation rise is applied, taking it to 60.59p a litre.
Child Benefit rises to £28.00 a week for the eldest child
2027-28 tax yearWho it affects: Families claiming Child Benefit
HMRC's 2027-28 table puts Child Benefit at £28.00 a week for the eldest or only child (up from £27.05) and £18.55 for each other child (up from £17.90).
Plan 2 and Plan 3 student loan interest capped at 6%
1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027Who it affects: Graduates with Plan 2 or postgraduate (Plan 3) loans
Interest on Plan 2 and Plan 3 loans cannot exceed 6% for the year to 31 August 2027. Monthly repayments depend on your income, not the interest rate, so they do not change.
What Stayed the Same for 2027-28
HMRC's Budget rates table prints these 2027-28 figures unchanged from 2026-27.
- Personal Allowance
- £12,570
- Income tax rates (England, Wales, NI)
- 20% / 40% / 45%
- Employee NI
- 8% / 2%
- Employer NI and Employment Allowance
- 15%, £10,500
- Dividend rates and allowance
- 10.75% / 35.75% / 39.35%, £500
- Personal Savings Allowance
- £1,000 / £500
- Capital Gains Tax rates and annual exempt amount
- 18% / 24%, £3,000
- ISA and Junior ISA limits
- £20,000 / £9,000
- Pension annual allowance and MPAA
- £60,000 / £10,000
- Inheritance Tax nil-rate band and residence nil-rate band
- £325,000 / £175,000
- Corporation Tax main and small profits rates
- 25% / 19%
- VAT registration threshold
- £90,000
Not Yet Specified — Detail to Follow
The Budget documents do not give these figures yet. We will add them when the government publishes them rather than estimate them.
- Scottish income tax rates and bands for 2027-28: set by the Scottish Budget, not this one.
- State Pension, Pension Credit and other DWP benefit rates for 2027-28: DWP has not yet published its April 2027 up-rating figures.
- Pension Tax Allowance figures for 2028-29 and 2029-30 (they follow the full new State Pension), and what happens after April 2030.
- Who counts as a qualifying founder for Founders' Relief.
- The design of the new incentive for first-time Stocks and Shares ISA investors, which HM Treasury will develop with industry.
- Most measures still need Finance Bill 2026-27 or secondary legislation, and HMRC guidance, before the detail is final.
Announced Before 28 October: Confirmed, Changed or Cancelled
These changes were announced at earlier fiscal events with a published start date. Here is what Budget 2026 did to each.
Planned £12,000 cash ISA limit for under-65s
Autumn Budget 2025 announced the cut; Budget 2026 cancelled it before it took effect. Savers of every age keep the full £20,000 cash limit, inside the unchanged £20,000 overall ISA allowance.
Savings and property income tax rates up two points
Budget 2025 legislated 22% / 42% / 47% for savings income and the same rates for property income from April 2027. Budget 2026 adds a further two points from the same date, to 24% / 44% / 49%.
Unused pension funds brought into Inheritance Tax
Most unused pension funds and death benefits fall inside the estate for Inheritance Tax on deaths from that date. Personal representatives — not scheme administrators — are liable for reporting and paying it. Death-in-service benefits and dependants' scheme pensions from defined benefit or collective money purchase arrangements are outside the change.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax widens
The qualifying-income threshold still drops to £30,000, assessed on the 2025-26 Self Assessment return. Budget 2026 adds a first-year penalty-points easement for that group and exempts those eligible for qualifying care relief, non-UK resident foreign entertainers and sportspeople and expected non-resident customers until further notice.
Salary-sacrificed pension contributions capped at £2,000 a year for National Insurance
Announced at Budget 2025. Only the first £2,000 a year of employee pension contributions made by salary sacrifice stays exempt from NICs; above that, employer and employee NICs apply as they would to an ordinary workplace pension contribution. Income Tax relief is unchanged at any level.
Income tax and NI thresholds stay frozen
HMRC's 2027-28 rates table keeps the Personal Allowance at £12,570 and the basic rate limit at £37,700; the NI Upper Earnings Limit and Upper Profits Limit stay aligned to the higher rate threshold at £50,270. The freeze runs until the 2030 to 2031 tax year and the income tax freeze is legislated in Finance Act 2026 (section 10).
Your Take-Home Today: the Baseline to Measure the Budget Against
Enter your salary to see what you keep under the 2026-27 rules in force now. Outside Scotland, HMRC's 2027-28 table keeps the income tax rates, the Personal Allowance and the employee NI rates where they are, so a salary that does not change faces the same income tax and NI next year.
Take-home 2026-27
£3,293 a month
Income tax + NI
21% of salary
Tax on your next £1
Income tax + NI, incl. allowance taper
This is your baseline under the law as it stands today — income tax and employee National Insurance only. Once the Budget's figures for the next tax year are confirmed, this block compares them against these numbers.
Already in Force for 2026-27
The 2026-27 tax year started on 6 April 2026 and its headline changes were set before this Budget, not at it. The Budget did not change any of these:
- Dividend tax +2 percentage points — from 6 April 2026: basic rate 8.75% → 10.75%, higher rate 33.75% → 35.75%, additional rate unchanged at 39.35%. The dividend allowance stays at £500. See it on your dividends
- BPR/APR inheritance tax allowance — from 6 April 2026, Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief share a combined £2,500,000 allowance at 100% relief per person, with 50% relief above it and unused allowance transferable to a surviving spouse or civil partner. Shares not listed on a recognised exchange, such as AIM shares, get 50% relief regardless. Inheritance Tax calculator
- Frozen income tax and NI thresholds — the Personal Allowance stays at £12,570 and the basic rate limit at £37,700, held there until 5 April 2031, with the NI Upper Earnings Limit aligned at £50,270. Income Tax calculator
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — the first wave started on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000, assessed on the 2024-25 return. Check whether it applies to you
Key Dates
- Done Wednesday 28 October 2026 — Budget delivered, with the OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook and HMRC's rates and legislation overview
- Announced 29 October 2026 — Lifetime ISA charge for homes above the price cap falls to 20%
- Announced 1 January 2027 — main-rate first-year allowance rises to 50%; bank surcharge rises to 6%
- Announced 1 April 2027 — National Living Wage rises to £13.21 an hour
- Announced 6 April 2027 — start of 2027-28: savings and property rates rise, BADR limit falls, Founders' Relief, Trading Allowance and Pension Tax Allowance start, unused pensions come inside Inheritance Tax, and Making Tax Digital reaches £30,000 of qualifying income
- Announced 1 July 2027 — the 5p fuel duty cut ends and the deferred inflation rise applies
- Announced April 2028 — High Value Council Tax Surcharge starts in England (first bills March 2028); the £2,500 Self Assessment threshold for employment expenses goes on 6 April 2028
- Announced 6 April 2029 — NICs relief on salary-sacrificed pension contributions capped at £2,000 a year; First Time Buyer ISA replaces the Lifetime ISA for new savers
- Announced April 2030 — adjusted Triple Lock applies to the State Pension; the Pension Tax Allowance runs to 5 April 2030
- Confirmed 5 April 2031 — end of the announced income tax and NI threshold freeze
Frequently asked questions
When was the Autumn Budget 2026?
Wednesday 28 October 2026. The Chancellor confirmed the date in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee published on gov.uk on 31 July 2026, and HM Treasury published the Budget document that day.
Did the Budget raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT?
No. The Budget document says there is no increase to the headline rates of income tax, National Insurance contributions or VAT. HMRC's 2027-28 rates table keeps income tax at 20% / 40% / 45%, the Personal Allowance at £12,570, employee NI at 8% and 2%, and employer NI at 15%. Savings and property income are the exception: their rates rise to 24% / 44% / 49% from 6 April 2027.
Who is the Chancellor who delivered the Budget?
The Rt Hon John Healey MP, who was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer on 20 July 2026. It was his first Budget in the role.
What happened to the cash ISA cut?
It was cancelled. The £12,000 cash ISA limit for under-65s, due from 6 April 2027, will not happen: the cash ISA limit stays £20,000 for everyone.
What changes for pensioners?
A new Pension Tax Allowance applies from 6 April 2027 to 5 April 2030 for people over State Pension age, or reaching it within the tax year, whose total income is up to the value of the full new State Pension. In 2027-28 the full allowance applies below £13,037 of total income. The Triple Lock continues through April 2029 and is adjusted from April 2030. The 2027-28 State Pension rates themselves are still to be published by DWP.
What is the new minimum wage from April 2027?
The National Living Wage rises 3.9% to £13.21 an hour on 1 April 2027. The 18 to 20 rate becomes £11.27, and the 16 to 17 and apprentice rate £8.31.
Do Budget tax changes take effect immediately?
Mostly not. Most income tax, savings, property and allowance changes from this Budget start on 6 April 2027, the first day of the 2027-28 tax year. A few started straight away: the lower Lifetime ISA charge for homes above the price cap applies from 29 October 2026, and the fuel duty cut is extended to 30 June 2027.
What's already changing in 2026-27?
The 2026-27 tax year (in force since 6 April 2026) locked in the dividend tax rise, the £2,500,000 combined BPR/APR inheritance tax allowance, and continues the income tax and NI threshold freeze through April 2031. None of that was changed by this Budget — see the full rundown on our Tax Changes 2026-27 hub.
Where do I find your updated numbers after the Budget?
In the calculators themselves. Rates, thresholds and allowances live in one central tax-year configuration that every calculator on this site reads. The 2026-27 figures stay in force until 5 April 2027; announced 2027-28 figures are recorded as dated Budget changes and move into the calculators at the April 2027 rollover, once legislation confirms them.
Sources
- HM Treasury — Budget 2026 (red book), including Table 6.1 policy decisions
- HMRC — Budget 2026: Overview of tax legislation and rates (OOTLAR)
- HMRC — Budget 2026 OOTLAR Annex A: rates and allowances
- HM Treasury — Budget 2026 policy costings (PDF)
- HM Treasury — High Value Council Tax Surcharge factsheet
- HM Treasury — Pension Tax Allowance explainer
- GOV.UK — Chancellor letter to the Treasury Select Committee: Budget 2026 date
- GOV.UK — Chancellor of the Exchequer (ministerial page)
- GOV.UK — Maintaining Income Tax and equivalent NICs thresholds until 5 April 2031
- GOV.UK — Salary sacrifice reform for pension contributions from 6 April 2029
- GOV.UK — Inheritance Tax: unused pension funds and death benefits (from 6 April 2027)
- GOV.UK — Inheritance tax reliefs threshold rising for farmers and businesses (23 December 2025)
- GOV.UK — Tax on dividends
- GOV.UK — Check if you're eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
- UK Tax Tools — Tax Changes 2026-27 hub
Related Calculators
Income Tax Calculator
Run your salary through 2025-26 and 2026-27 UK tax bands with personal allowance, taper and reliefs applied — including Scottish 6-band rates.
Tax on Savings Interest
How much of your savings interest is tax-free via your Personal Allowance, starting rate for savings and Personal Savings Allowance — with worked examples.
Rental Income Tax Calculator
20% finance-cost tax credit, allowable expenses, and net let-property profit for Schedule E — Section 24 MI credit applied.
BADR Calculator
Lifetime limit at the BADR rate (£1M to 5 April 2027, then £500,000) — qualifying-disposal tests and post-April-2025 14% step-up to 18%.
State Pension Rates Reference
New State Pension (£241.30 a week) and basic State Pension amounts, the triple lock, deferral rates and qualifying years from April 2026.
Minimum Wage Rates Reference
Every NMW and NLW hourly rate by age band since 2019 — £12.71 National Living Wage from April 2026, apprentice rate and the accommodation offset.
UK Tax Changes 2026-27 Hub
Every 2026-27 change in one place: dividend +2pp, BPR/APR £2.5M cap, fiscal drag tables, MTD ITSA, pension IHT 2027 runway