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Here are some of the key announcements that could affect you:
Income tax thresholds will freeze for a further 3 years until April 2031. This means that more people may start paying income tax, or at higher rates, as their pay rises.
The amount of income tax you pay in each tax year depends on:
For more information, visit GOV.UK: Current rates and allowances
Income tax levels apply to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Scotland sets its own bands and rates.
Household gas and electricity costs will be lowered through cuts to green levies on energy bills.
This is expected to reduce energy bills by £150 for the average household from April 2026, offering some relief amid rising living expenses.
Explore: Budget-friendly ways to improve home energy efficiency
The two-child limit in Universal Credit, which applies to third, or subsequent, children born after 6 April 2017, has been lifted – in attempts to raise 450,000 children out of poverty.
From April 2026, larger families, with 2 or more children, will be entitled to financial support that they otherwise wouldn’t have received.
The government is to fund a new 'youth guarantee' – a commitment in England to offer every young person aged 16 to 24 a job, training, or apprenticeship.
Salary sacrifice is currently a tax-efficient way of paying into your pension pot and reducing the amount of National Insurance you and your employer pay.
From April 2029, salary-sacrificed pension contributions above an annual £2,000 threshold will no longer be exempt from National Insurance.
This means that salary-sacrificed pension contributions above £2,000 should still be exempt from income tax but will be subject to both employee and employer National Insurance.
The basic and new UK state pension will increase by 4.8% from April 2026, following the Triple Lock policy.
As a result, the full new state pension is expected to rise to £241.30 per week, and the full basic state pension will increase to around £184.90 per week.
From April 2027, the amount of money that can be saved in a cash ISA each financial year goes down from £20,000 to £12,000 for the under 65s. Over 65s will still be able to save up to £20,000.
A cash ISA is a type of savings account that offers tax-free interest (you don't pay any UK income tax or capital gains tax on the interest you earn).
From April 2028, a new council tax surcharge will be introduced for properties worth over £2m in England.
This new surcharge, which will be collected alongside council tax, is expected to raise over £400m by 2031 and will be charged on fewer than the top 1% of properties.
The government will introduce 'permanently lower tax rates' for more than 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties.
The move will be funded through higher rates on properties worth £500,000 or more, such as warehouses used by online retail giants.
A new mileage-based charge on electric and plug-in hybrid cars will be introduced from April 2028.
The ‘pay-per-mile’ charge will equal 3p per mile for battery electric cars and 1.5p per mile for plug-in hybrid cars. This will see running costs for EV and hybrid vehicles increase.
Fuel Duty will be frozen at its current rate until September 2026, followed by staged increases from 2026.
Regulated rail fares, including season tickets, anytime day, off-peak, and super off-peak tickets, in England will be frozen until March 2027. This is the first freeze in 30 years.
Remote Gaming Duty will be raised from 21% to 40%. Duty on online betting is increasing from 15% to 25%.
No changes have been made to in-person gambling or horse-racing. Bingo Duty is also being abolished from April 2026.
Many people are eligible for government support but don’t realise it. You may think you need to be out of work to claim anything – but that’s not the case.
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The information in this article was last updated on Wednesday 26 November 2025.
