What the 2026 Autumn Budget means for you

Gas standing charges will be abolished before the end of next year.  

The standing charge is a fixed daily amount you pay for having a gas supply, even when you don't use any gas. Instead, these fixed costs will be added to the amount people pay per unit for the gas they actually use. 

The government says that this could save 60% of households an average of £45 a year (depending on your usage).

The government has announced that the reduced rate of VAT on electricity will continue until July 2027. This will reduce the annual energy price cap by £50. That said, if you're struggling to pay your energy bills now, you don't have to wait until you've missed a payment to ask for help.

The government has said that they are going to give households a £100 energy payment in England from January 2027. The payment will go directly to your bank account.

This support applies to households in Council Tax bands A-D. Find out which Council Tax bandOpens in a new window your home is. 

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also receive funding, but their governments will decide how that is done.  

At the moment, Carer's Allowance is £86.45 a week. If you work while claiming it, there's an earnings limit, which is £204 a week (after tax, National Insurance and expenses). If you go over that amount, you might lose your Carer's Allowance.  

The government is planning to replace that 'cliff edge' weekly earnings limit with a taper in England and Wales. Instead, Carer's Allowance would go down by £1 for every £1 earned above the earnings limit, rather than it entirely disappearing when someone crosses the threshold. This means earning just above the limit will no longer mean you lose all of your Carer’s Allowance – and won’t have to pay it all back if your earnings end up going slightly over the limit.

This isn't happening right now, with changes looking to happen in 2030-31 – so carers need to keep following the current rules.  

The amount of money you can put into a Cash ISA is going to stay the same, at £20,000 a year, for people of all ages. 

ISAs allow you to save or invest without paying Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax on the returns, so are a brilliant way to save money.

If you've never invested before and want to start, the government has announced plans for a new starter ISA. Details will be released later.  

Tariffs are being removed from more than 100 supermarket food categories (products that are imported into the country), including things such as tins of baked beans and chocolate bars. Depending on what you buy, the government thinks you might be able to save around £25 a year.

It’s a temporary suspension, and should be in place until December 2028. 

Pensioners whose total income is up to the full State Pension amount won’t have to pay Income Tax, even if what they receive is over the Personal Allowance of £12,570 a year. This is being called the Pension Tax Allowance.

The triple lock is how the government makes sure State Pension payments keep up with the cost of living. At the moment, the yearly increase will either match the rate of inflation, average earnings or 2.5% – whichever is highest. From April 2030, the government has announced that this could change.  
 
Read more in our blog What is the State Pension triple lock and is it ending?

The National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage will be up by 3.9%, which will affect 2.3 million workers.  

From April 2029 self-employed dads and partners in England, Scotland and Wales will be able to get financial support when they have a new baby or adopt a child, where they have previously missed out. 

If you're eligible, you'll be able to get two weeks of support, which is currently worth up to £194 a week. 

More information is expected about when this support is going to start, who will qualify and how you can claim. 

If you use your own car or van for work, you might benefit from changes to tax-free mileage rates. 

The rate for the first 10,000 business miles is now 55p a mile, up from 45p. This increase happened in April 2026 but is now going to be made permanent. 

From 6 April 2027, the rate for business mileage above 10,000 miles will also increase – from 25p to 35p a mile. 

It's important to remember that these rates don't apply to your normal commute to and from work – just what's done in work time.  

If your employer pays you less than the approved milage rate, you might be able to claim tax on relief on the difference.  

The First Time Buyer (FTB) ISA will be launched on 6 April 2029. This new account is designed to help people save towards buying their first home, and is planned to replace the Lifetime ISA (LISA). 

You'll be able to save up to £4,000 into the account per year and receive a 25% government bonus when you use it to buy your first home. The maximum bonus you can claim is £20,000. The home you buy must be worth £450,000 or less if you want to use your FTB ISA bonus. 

Unlike with the Lifetime ISA, there won't be an upper age limit for opening one and you won't face the same 25% withdrawal charge if you need to take your money out for another reason.  

If you already have a Lifetime ISA, you don't need to close it, you can still use it to save towards your first home, or for retirement. You can open a First Time Buyer ISA too, once it launches in 2029. However, you can only pay into one of these accounts per year. 

If you have a Help to Buy ISA, you will be able to transfer that into the First Time Buyer ISA between 6 April 2029, and 1 December 2030, when the Help to Buy ISA is due to close.

There has also been a change to the Lifetime ISA. In the past, there was a penalty charged if you took money out to pay for a property over the price cap. From midnight tomorrow (29 October 2026), you’ll get back at least what you’ve paid in.  

If you're a first-time buyer in England, a new scheme could help you buy a home with a smaller deposit. Pre-registrations start from December this year, and you can submit a full application from February 2027. Loans should start being paid from April 2027. 

The Your First Home scheme is supposed to let eligible first-time buyers buy a new-build home with a minimum deposit of 2.5% and maximum deposit of 15%, with the government providing a 20% equity loan. 

The scheme will be open to households earning less than £110,000 outside London and £140,000 inside London.

There will be an initial interest-free period, and you'd need a mortgage to cover the rest of the purchase price. 

The scheme is only for those living in England, and only for qualifying new-build homes from the developers taking part. There will also be limits on household income and property prices.