Overview
- The Treasury confirmed on Monday a £2,000 annual cap on pension salary‑sacrifice contributions before National Insurance applies, a change it says will raise roughly £4 billion for the public finances.
- HMRC modelling shows the cap could prompt about 2.9 million workers to cut back pension saving and reduce tax‑efficient contributions for roughly 2.2 million higher‑rate taxpayers.
- The Triple Lock guarantee produced a 4.8% uprate for 2026/27 that lifts the full new State Pension to about £12,548 a year, putting it at or just above the standard personal allowance for the first time.
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves and HMRC have pledged that people whose only income is the full new or basic State Pension will not face small income‑tax assessments from April 2027, using a planned administrative workaround.
- Andy Burnham has publicly promised to uphold the Triple Lock and Reeves’ pension tax protections if he becomes prime minister, even as the OBR and think tanks warn the Triple Lock creates rising multi‑billion‑pound pressures and some of Burnham’s advisers favour reform.