Autumn Budget 2026 – Our Summary

‘Breathing space’, ‘small wins’, ‘steady as she goes’. The language accompanying this year’s Budget is distinctly different from last year’s

Against a challenging background of high government debt, soaring energy prices related to a complex war and higher-than-predicted interest rates, Mr Healey presented one of the densest Budget speeches of recent years. With over 95 different scored measures, the focus was on creating a “breathing space” on cost-of-living pressures in an uncertain global climate, and on incremental change within fiscal rules.

Among the wide range of measures announced were:

• An additional two percentage points increase for tax rates on savings income and property income from 2027/28 for basic, higher and additional rate taxpayers. Dividend tax rates will be unchanged.
• A new pensions tax allowance will be introduced for three years to remove pensioners with income equal to no more than the new state pension from the tax net.
• The restriction on the cash ISA limit for savers under 65 has been reversed.
• A new First Time Buyer ISA will be introduced from April 2029 and will replace the lifetime ISA (LISA) which will continue, with a small reduction in the penalty charge for property buyers who breach the £450,000 purchase price cap.
• To help with increased home energy costs, a one-off £100 energy payment will be given to households in council tax bands A to D.
• Standing charges on domestic gas use will be removed during 2027, or as soon as possible thereafter, with the fees shifting onto unit prices instead.
• The trading allowance will be tripled to £3,000 from 2027/28.
• Capital allowances will see an increase to the main first year allowance from 40% to 50% from 1 January 2027, but a cut to the main writing down allowance from 14% to 12% from April 2027.
• The business assets disposal relief limit will be halved to £500,000 from April 2027, while a new Founders’ Relief will be introduced with a £10 million limit “for qualifying founders of high-growth, innovative companies”.

The documentation generated by this first Burnham-era Budget contained a wide range of detailed proposals and much to digest.

Related content

• PERSONAL TAX
• IHT & ESTATE PLANNING
• BUSINESS TAX PLANNING
• CORPORATION TAX
• PRIVATE CLIENT ADVISORY
• ARTICLES