💷 The Budget & you snapshot
Autumn Budget 2025 · confirmed Spring Statement 3 Mar 2026 · reviewed 2 Aug 2026
The Budget, explained:
Autumn Budget 2025 ANNUAL
26 Nov · tax thresholds frozen to 2031, minimum wage & pensions up, two-child cap
scrapped, new EV mileage charge · next Budget: autumn 2026, date TBA
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On the minimum wage, full-time: your pay rises to £12.71/hour in April —
about £975 a year more on a 37.5-hour week. Frozen tax thresholds take roughly
£270 of that in tax and NI, leaving around £700 in your pocket.
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Earning around the middle (~£37,000): nothing changes on April's payslip — the
freeze does its work silently. Thresholds now stay put until 2031, so every pay
rise is taxed at your top rate and pulls you toward the frozen £50,270 higher-rate line.
The OBR expects nearly 1 in 4 taxpayers to pay some higher-rate tax by then.
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On the full new State Pension: up 4.8% in April to about £241 a week
(£12,547 a year) — roughly £575 more. That lands within £23 of the frozen £12,570
personal allowance: almost any private pension or other income on top now becomes
taxable, for many pensioners the first time.
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With savings interest or rental income: from 6 April the tax rates on both rose
2 points (20→22%, 40→42%, 45→47%). Each £1,000 of taxable interest or rental
profit costs a basic-rate payer £20 more a year. Earnings from work are unaffected.
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Family with more than two children: the two-child benefit cap was scrapped —
Universal Credit and tax credits now pay for third and later children. If you were
previously capped, your award recalculates without it.