Autumn Budget 2026: What It Means for Benefits and Pay

HM Treasury confirmed on 31 July 2026 that the Budget will be on Wednesday 28 October 2026. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is John Healey MP. The Budget is the Chancellor's statement to the House of Commons on tax and spending, published with the Treasury documents on GOV.UK the same afternoon.

A Budget announces decisions. Most of them reach your pocket later, through regulations and Orders that set a date, which is why the sections below say what the law already provides for each change and when it would start.

The Secretary of State must review benefit rates in each tax year to decide whether they have kept their value against the general level of prices in Great Britain. The Consumer Prices Index rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026, up from 3.1% the previous month.

The review does not change a payment on its own. The new rates are set by an Order each year: the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026 came into force for most purposes on 6 April 2026. The rates for the coming year follow the same route, so a Budget announcement about benefits is a statement of what the Order will say, not a change to this month's payment.

The new State Pension increases each year by whichever is the highest of earnings growth, price growth measured by CPI, or 2.5%. That rule is usually called the triple lock. Our State Pension guide has the current amounts and the age you reach it.

Minimum wage rates change on 1 April every year. The current rates, from April 2026, are:

Our minimum wage guide explains who gets which rate and what to do if you are paid less.

The standard Personal Allowance is £12,570, which is the amount of income you do not have to pay tax on. The current tax year is from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. The allowance, the bands and the rates are the Budget's usual income tax levers.

For inheritance tax, the tax-free threshold (the 'nil-rate band') is £325,000, and it is fixed at that level up to and including the tax year 2029 to 2030. It can rise to £500,000 if you leave your home to your children or grandchildren and your estate is worth less than £2 million. Our inheritance tax guide covers the reliefs and the forms.

This table lists the guides in our benefits section and beyond that carry a figure the Budget can move, what each one states today, and the point at which a change would reach the page. Nothing on these pages changes on Budget day itself; each is updated when the new figure is law and dated.

On Budget day this page gains a section for each announcement that touches a right on this site, with the Treasury document it comes from and the date it takes effect. If you cite this page, the date at the top tells you which version you read.

Scotland. Income tax bands are different if you live in Scotland. Pension Age Disability Payment is what you claim in Scotland instead of Attendance Allowance. Social Security Scotland pays it, not DWP.

Wales. You pay Welsh Income Tax rates if you live in Wales. These rates have been set by the Welsh Government. The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026 extends to England and Wales and Scotland.

Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities says rates of social security benefits are generally maintained in parity with Great Britain. Its 2026 regulations require the Universal Credit standard allowance to rise by CPI (3.8% at September 2025) and then by a further 2.3%.