09/12/2025
Summary of the Autumn budget
Revenue raising measures:
1. Freezing personal tax thresholds for both income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) for employees and self-employed individuals for a further three years—from April 2028 through until April 2031. The measure is expected to raise over £23bn in total by 2030/31 (£3.4bn in 2028/29, £7.8bn in 2029/30, and £12.4bn in 2030/31). Maintaining the secondary threshold for employer NICs over the same period is expected to raise an additional £1.8bn
2. Capping NICs relief on salary sacrifice into pension schemes to the first £2,000 of pension contributions per person from 2029. The measure is expected to raise £4.7bn in 2029/30 and £2.6bn in 2030/31. The government said 74% of basic rate taxpayers, and their employers, currently using salary sacrifice would be unaffected by the change.
3. Increasing tax on dividend income by two percentage points at the ordinary and upper rate from April 2026, raising around £5.2bn over the period to 2030/31
4. Increasing tax on property income and savings income by two percentage points at the basic, higher and additional rates from April 2027, with both measures raising around £1.5bn each over the period to 2030/31
5. Reducing capital gains tax relief on qualifying disposals to employee ownership trusts from 100% to 50% from 26 November 2025, raising £3.7bn by 2030/31
6. Increasing gambling levies, including remote gaming duty to 40% from April 2026 and introducing a new remote betting rate at 25% (excluding self-service betting terminals, spread betting, pool betting and UK horseracing) from April 2027. The government will also abolish bingo duty from April 2026. Together the measures are expected to raise over £5bn over the five years from 2026/27 to 2030/31
7. Introducing electric vehicle excise duty (eVED), a new mileage-based charge for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars, from April 2028. The government said eVED would not initially apply to vans, buses, motorcycles, coaches and HGVs. It added an average electric vehicle driver would pay around £240 per year in eVED, raising £1.1bn in 2028/29, £1.4bn in 2029/30 and £1.9bn in 2030/31
8. Introducing a high value council tax surcharge in England from April 2028 on residential properties valued at or over £2mn. The new flat-rate, annual charge would start at £2,500, rising to £7,500 for properties valued over £5mn. The charge would be collected by local authorities and be levied on owners rather than occupiers. The government expects the charge to raise around £400mn each year from 2028/29 inclusive
Other revenue-raising measures included freezing the student loans plan 2 repayment threshold for three years from April 2027, raising £1.4bn by 2030/31; reforming the customs treatment of low value imports from March 2029, raising over £1bn by 2030/31; and introducing VAT at the standard rate on advance payments paid to Motability or equivalent schemes, and insurance premium tax at the standard rate on insurance related to vehicle leases, from July 2026, raising around £1bn by 2030/31
Spending Decisions
1. Removing the two-child limit in the child element of universal credit from April 2026, costing around £2.4bn in 2026/27 rising to £3.2bn in 2030/31. The government estimates the measure will lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
2. Increasing the national living wage (NLW) by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over. The government said the measure represents an increase of £900 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and estimates the measure will benefit around 2.4 million low-paid workers in total. The national minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will also increase by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour and for 16 to 17-year-olds and apprentices by 6.0% to £8.00 per hour.
3. Introducing a cash limit of £12,000 within the overall annual limit of £20,000 for individual savings accounts (ISAs). The limit will not apply to savers over the age of 65
4. Changes to fuel duty, including cancelling the planned uprating for 2026/27; extending the 5p cut in rates to 31 August 2026, then increasing the duty by 1p from 1 September 2026, 2p from 1 December 2026, and 2p from 1 March 2027, costing £2.4bn in 2026/27 and falling to around £900mn per year thereafter
5. Not proceeding with reforms to eligibility for personal independence payment (PIP) announced at the spring statement, at a cost of around £5.3bn by 2030/31
6. Maintaining the £35,000 taxable income threshold for winter fuel payment payable to eligible pensioners for the rest of the parliament, costing £1.3bn per year by 2030/31
7. Increasing eligibility for the enterprise management incentives (EMI) scheme to allow scale-ups, as well as start-ups, to access the scheme from April 2026, costing around £700 per year by 2030/31
8. Reducing household energy bills by around £150 on average in Great Britain from April 2026 through changes to the renewable’s obligation and the energy company obligation.
