https://wealthr.co.uk/live/ Confirmed UK tax, Budget, pension and bill changes, in plain English, with what each one does to your pocket. en-GB Mon, 05 Oct 2026 07:00:00 GMT https://wealthr.co.uk/live/cash-isa-limit/#u-2026-10-05 wealthr-live-2026-10-05-budget-watch Mon, 05 Oct 2026 07:00:00 GMT If you are saving for a first home, the Lifetime ISA is on its way out. The Treasury is replacing it with a First Time Buyer ISA, and its consultation closed on 18 August. Three things about the new one are already settled and they are the ones that affect you. There is no upper age limit, so the rule that stops you opening a LISA after 40 goes. There is no withdrawal charge: the government bonus is paid at the point you buy with a mortgage, so if your plans change you take your own money back without the 25% penalty that catches LISA savers today. And a cash version would count inside the £12,000 cash ISA limit arriving in April 2027, as well as the £20,000 overall allowance. What is NOT settled is every number that decides whether it is worth more or less than a LISA — the yearly limit, the bonus and the property price cap are all "to be announced at a future fiscal event", which means 28 October is the first place to look. Until the new product exists you can still open a LISA and keep paying into one under the current rules, and money already in a LISA cannot be moved across, though you can use both for the same purchase. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/energy-price-cap/#u-2026-10-01 wealthr-live-2026-10-01-in-force Thu, 01 Oct 2026 07:00:00 GMT Two things landed together on 1 October. The energy price cap rose 4% to £1,723 a year for a typical direct-debit household, and VAT on domestic electricity dropped from 5% to zero. The second one pays for part of the first: the VAT cut is worth about £45 a year and it is already inside that 4%. Ofgem says so itself — this cap period cannot be compared directly with the last one — which means the underlying rise in what energy costs is bigger than the headline. It is gas doing the work: gas unit rates are up 8.7% while electricity is up 0.8% and its daily standing charge has actually fallen, from 57.19p to 54.83p. The VAT cut covers Great Britain only; Northern Ireland stays at 5% and its Executive receives comparable funding instead. The date that matters now is 31 March 2027, when the zero rate ends and 5% goes back on electricity, five days before the new tax year starts. Whether it is extended is a Budget question. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/energy-price-cap/#u-2026-09-30 wealthr-live-2026-09-30-forecast Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT The 4% rise that landed on 1 October may be the small one. The energy analysts Cornwall Insight said on 30 September that the January cap looks like £1,999 a year for a typical direct-debit home — up about 16%, or £276 a year, on wholesale gas prices and low European storage. The reason it is worth knowing now rather than in December: Ofgem sets each cap from prices observed over a window, and that window was already nearly half through when the forecast was published, so September's rises are locked in whatever happens next. Two things to hold alongside it. This is a forecast, not the figure — Ofgem publishes the real January cap in late November. And January still has the zero rate of VAT on electricity inside it, worth about £45 a year, which ends on 31 March; so the figure after that one has a second rise built in before wholesale prices do anything at all. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/state-pension/#u-2026-09-29 wealthr-live-2026-09-29-announced Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT The triple lock changes, but not yet. From April 2030 the state pension will rise by at least inflation or 2.5%, plus whatever more is needed to keep its value against average earnings — so instead of taking the highest of three numbers each year, over time it tracks earnings. The government published this on 29 September. For anyone drawing the state pension now, or reaching it in the next three years, nothing changes: April 2027, 2028 and 2029 run on the triple lock as it stands. The part worth planning around is that the state pension is set to keep gaining ground on a personal allowance frozen at £12,570 until 2031, so more of it is taxable each year — which is a question about your allowance, not about the uprating rule. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/bank-rate/#u-2026-09-17 wealthr-live-2026-09-17-held Thu, 17 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT Bank Rate stays at 3.75%. The Bank's committee split six to three, the same way it did in July, with three of the nine again voting to put it up to 4%. Inflation is why it keeps being close: prices were 3.1% higher than a year earlier in August, and the Bank now expects that to reach about 3¾% by the end of this year and a little over 4% early in 2027. For you, nothing moves this month — a tracker or variable mortgage costs what it did in August, and savings rates hold where they are. That last part still has a sting: with easy-access accounts near 4%, a basic-rate taxpayer holding much over £25,000 outside an ISA is paying tax on the interest. The next decision is 5 November, eight days after the Budget. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/state-pension/#u-2026-09-15 wealthr-live-2026-09-15-number-in Tue, 15 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT The first of the two numbers that set April's state pension has landed: wages rose 3.9% in the May–July window the triple lock measures. On the full new state pension of £241.30 a week that works out at about £250.70, or roughly £489 more across a year. It is not final — the figure is provisional and can be revised, and September's inflation, out in October, is set against it with the higher of the two winning. August inflation came in at 3.1%, so wages are ahead for now. Here is the part that matters and nobody announces: the full new state pension currently sits £22 below the frozen £12,570 personal allowance. A 3.9% rise would take it about £467 above. From next April the state pension alone would start using up your tax-free allowance, so any other income is taxed from the first pound. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/cash-isa-limit/#u-2026-09-14 wealthr-live-2026-09-14-rules-laid Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT The ISA regulations have landed. The Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 have been laid before Parliament, and come into force on 6 April 2027 — the same day the cash limit drops. Three things change, and the third one is new. Interest your provider pays on cash held in a stocks & shares or innovative finance ISA carries a charge at the savings basic rate, 22% from April 2027. Under-65s can no longer transfer a non-cash ISA into a cash ISA, so it is not a decision you can unwind later. And a stocks & shares ISA can no longer consist entirely of money market funds — they are still allowed as part of the holding, just not as the whole of it, which was the neatest way to keep the overflow as cash in all but name. Here is the sum worth doing: the charge is set at the savings basic rate, which is the same 22% a basic-rate saver already pays on interest with no wrapper at all. For them the wrapper stops being a tax play; only higher and additional-rate savers keep a gap, at 42% and 47%. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/energy-price-cap/#u-2026-09-13 wealthr-live-2026-09-13-confirmed Sun, 13 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT Your energy bills go up on 1 October. Ofgem's cap rises 4%, from £1,663 to £1,723 a year for a typical direct-debit household — roughly £5 a month. Almost all of it is gas, up 8%, while electricity is broadly flat because VAT on it has been removed; without that the cap would be about £45 higher. The cap caps unit rates, not your bill, so a cold winter still costs more. If you are on a fixed deal you are untouched until it ends. https://wealthr.co.uk/tools/proportional-property-tax-calculator-uk/ wealthr-live-2026-09-09-ruled-out Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT The 0.48% property tax is off the table. Number 10 has said the reports that council tax and stamp duty would be replaced by one annual charge on your home aren't true, and stamp duty isn't being reformed on 28 October. In plain terms: nothing changes for you this year — your council tax bill works the way it always has, and you'll pay the same stamp duty when you next buy. Worth knowing rather than worrying about, because the idea has come back three times now and it will come back again. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/state-pension/#u-2026-09-09 wealthr-live-2026-09-09-week-ahead Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT Three numbers land in three days and they all reach your pocket. Tuesday the 15th: wage growth for May–July, which is one of the two figures that sets April's state pension rise. Wednesday the 16th: August inflation. Thursday the 17th at noon: the Bank Rate decision, which moves what savers are paid and what trackers cost. On the state pension, the triple lock quietly takes whichever is highest of wage growth, September's inflation and 2.5% — nobody announces the winner, but around 4% wage growth would add roughly £500 a year to the full new state pension. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/bank-rate/#u-2026-09-06 wealthr-live-2026-09-06-watch Sun, 06 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT Bank Rate, 17 September: a hold at 3.75% is still the central call, but a rise is now a live risk rather than a tail one. Markets price roughly a one-in-four chance of a move to 4%, July's inflation reading was 2.9%, and the August figure is expected the day before the vote. Also this week: the Treasury's Budget representations portal closes on 9 September, and the Commons rises for conference recess on the 16th, so the Liverpool conference speeches are the next real signal before 28 October. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/cash-isa-limit/#u-2026-09-04 wealthr-live-2026-09-04-confirmed Fri, 04 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT The ISA changes are no longer a rumour: the Treasury's factsheet sets them out and the regulations are due this autumn. From 6 April 2027 the cash ISA limit is £12,000 for under-65s (65+ keep £20,000), cash held inside a stocks & shares ISA loses 22% of its interest, and under-65s can't transfer from a stocks & shares ISA into a cash ISA. On £8,000 of cash parked in a stocks & shares ISA at 4%, that charge is about £70 a year. https://wealthr.co.uk/tools/salary-sacrifice-pension-calculator-uk/ wealthr-live-2026-09-04-confirmed Fri, 04 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT Salary sacrifice: from 6 April 2029 only the first £2,000 a year sacrificed into a pension keeps its National Insurance exemption (legislated at the November 2025 Budget). Above that, the employee pays NI at their usual rate on the excess and the employer pays theirs. Income tax relief on the contributions doesn't change. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/bank-rate/#u-2026-09-04 wealthr-live-2026-09-04-watch Fri, 04 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT Bank Rate stays at 3.75% until at least 17 September, when the next decision is announced at noon. July's vote was 6–3 to hold, with the three wanting a rise to 4%. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/energy-price-cap/#u-2026-08-26 wealthr-live-2026-08-26-new Wed, 26 Aug 2026 07:00:00 GMT Ofgem has confirmed the energy price cap rises 4% on 1 October: a typical dual-fuel home paying by direct debit goes from £1,663 to £1,723 a year, about £5 a month. Nearly all of it is gas, which is up 8% — an all-electric home sees under 1%. Two things worth knowing: the cap limits unit rates, not your bill, so if you use more than the typical home you pay more than £1,723; and around a third of households are on a fixed deal and won't see this at all. https://wealthr.co.uk/autumn-budget-2026/ wealthr-live-2026-08-25-budget-watch Tue, 25 Aug 2026 07:00:00 GMT Tax rises in the autumn Budget have not been ruled out, and forecasters think the Chancellor has very little room to move. Nothing is real until 28 October — but every measure that actually lands will get a calculator here on the day. https://wealthr.co.uk/blog/proportional-property-tax-vs-council-tax wealthr-live-2026-08-24-new Mon, 24 Aug 2026 07:00:00 GMT HMRC's going to start sending valuers round to homes near the £2m mark, to work out who's caught by the 'mansion tax' — the yearly surcharge (£2,500 up to £7,500, depending on value) that lands in April 2028. Visits are by appointment, but block one and it's a £200 fine, or up to £500 for not handing over details. Zoopla reckons about 183,000 homes are already over £2m, with another 75,000 sitting just below. https://wealthr.co.uk/live/ wealthr-live-2026-08-24-new Mon, 24 Aug 2026 07:00:00 GMT WealthR Live launches — tracking the Autumn Budget, the 0.48% property tax, the pension IHT change and the ISA shake-up, each with a calculator.