Charles Jones Wealth Management Ltd.

16/03/2026

As shown in the accompanying chart, the odds of a UK interest rate reduction later this week have all but evaporated.

Analysts had thought that lacklustre growth, a deteriorating jobs market and inflation drifting back towards target would spur the Bank’s rate setting committee to cut by 0.25%. However, global events have turned matters on their head.

In response to this, a large amount of mortgage lenders have been making rapid increases to their mortgage deals, with many deals being withdrawn.

04/03/2026

Tax Year End Planning - ISA's & JISA's

Annual subscriptions (£20,000 and £9,000 respectively) should be maximised before 6 April 2026 as any unused subscription amount cannot be carried forward.

The annual ISA and JISA subscription limits remain at £20,000 and £9,000 for 2026/27.

Until recently, for most basic rate taxpayers, the combination of the £1,000 personal savings allowance, dividend allowance and capital gains tax annual exemption has meant that ISA tax benefits have been largely academic. However, higher interest rates, coupled with recent reductions in the dividend allowance to £500 from 2024/25 onwards, and dramatic cuts in the capital gains tax annual exemption, taking it down to the current £3,000 a year from 2024/25 onwards, have changed the situation and will have added to the attractiveness of ISAs.

02/03/2026

Tax Year End Planning - High Earners & 60% tax...

The “personal allowance trap” is when your personal allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 for those with adjusted net income in excess of £100,000.

This means that, for 2025/26, there will be no personal allowance available once adjusted net income exceeds £125,140. Making extra pension contributions not only increases pension provision, but for those who may be subject to a reduced personal allowance a personal pension contribution could claw back some of this allowance giving an effective tax saving of around 60%, more with salary sacrifice.

If you or someone you know is close or already breaching income of over £100k this tax year, this is certainly something to consider!

27/02/2026

Tax Year End Planning - Pensions Carry Forward

The carry forward rules allow unused annual allowances to be carried forward for a maximum of three tax years. This means that 5 April 2026 is the last opportunity to use any unused allowance of up to £40,000 from 2022/23.

An individual can carry forward unused allowance from earlier years even if they couldn’t justify contributions in those years of that level because their earnings in those years were too low. (For example, if they had no earnings in 2022/23 and only paid in £3,600, they would still have unused allowance of £36,400 as the standard annual allowance was £40,000).

However, note that, if they are making personal contributions, they would need relevant UK earnings of at least the total contribution amount in the current tax year, 2025/26, to be eligible for tax relief on the full contributions in 2025/26. It is not possible to carry forward unused earnings, only the unused annual allowances.

26/02/2026

Tax Year End Planning - Inheritance Tax

With Tax Year End fast approaching, now is the perfect time to start making use of your annual allowances.

Everybody has an annual exemption of £3,000 to use each tax year. Any unused annual exemption can be carried forward for one year only. So, use any available annual exemption carried forward from last year before 6 April 2026.

For somebody who has made no gifts, they can make gifts of £6,000 within their annual exemptions now. Note that unused 2024/25 annual exemption can only be used after the donor has used the current tax year’s annual exemption. For example, if they made no gifts in 2024/25, and they gift £4,000 in 2025/26, they will be treated as having used their full 2025/26 exemption and £1,000 from 2024/25.

16/02/2026

Making Tax Digital on the horizon

Hundreds of thousands of landlords and sole traders have only weeks to prepare for massive changes to the tax system that will take effect on 6 April.

The introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) has been described as the biggest shake-up in tax returns since self-assessment was launched more than 30 years ago.

In the first wave, landlords and sole traders earning more than £50,000 from property income and self-employment will have to keep digital records and submit tax records to HMRC five times a year.

They will also have to use new HMRC-compatible accounting software to manage their tax affairs. The dates for submitting tax returns and paying any tax due will not change.

HM Revenue & Customs is urging landlords and sole traders to act now to make sure they are prepared for the introduction of MTD. Those who fail to follow the MTD rules will face penalties. Each missed submission deadline will incur one penalty point. Four penalty points mean a £200 fine. There are also financial costs for paying tax late, ranging from 3% of the amount owed to up to 10%.

MTD will be rolled out in stages. Traders and landlords with income of more than £30,000 will need to comply with MTD from 6 April 2027. It will come into force in April 2028 for those earning above £20,000.

Sole traders, landlords and agents can find guidance on the new way of reporting via this link:

Guidance for sole traders, landlords, and agents to sign up and use HMRC's new way to report self-employment and property income and expenses.

13/02/2026

Over 1.8m mortgage fixes end this year. Almost 1m of these are five year fixed deals coming to an end.

In 2021, sub-2% five-year rates were widely available in the low interest rate environment. Mortgage rates later jumped, but have been edging down more recently, with the Bank of England holding this at 3.75%.

Calculations by Compare the Market indicate that more costly rates could potentially push up some households’ annual mortgage payments by as much as £2,124, based on average house prices in 2021 and someone having had a 25% deposit in 2021.

Borrowers letting their five-year mortgage roll onto a standard variable rate (SVR), which happens when initial mortgage deals end, could see bigger cost jumps.

09/02/2026

End of Tax Year Countdown:
- 55 Days
- 39 Working Days

05/02/2026

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 3.75%, this comes after six rate cuts since August 2024.

At its meeting ending on 4 February 2026, the Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 5–4 to maintain Bank Rate at 3.75%. Four members voted to reduce Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 3.5%.

04/02/2026

The government is expected to publish a consultation on the replacement to the lifetime ISA within the next month.

As announced at last year’s Budget, the government is working on creating a ‘simpler’ product to support first-time buyers to buy a home, which will replace the lifetime ISA for new savers.

This new product is expected to drop the retirement option and exit fees. It is not known whether the property limit will change when the new product is introduced. You can currently use a lifetime ISA to buy a house worth up to £450,000.

02/02/2026

The Bank of England meets eight times a year to set the base rate, which is the core interest rate for the UK.

Changes to the base rate have a knock-on effect on mortgages, savings and loans to consumers.

Here is the full list of dates when the MPC interest rate decision will be announced by the Bank of England in 2026:

5 February
19 March
30 April
18 June
30 July
17 September
5 November
17 December