Overview
- Reports indicate the chancellor is expected to extend freezes on income and National Insurance thresholds, relying on fiscal drag after dropping a headline income tax rise.
- Around £15 billion in welfare and pension measures is expected, including scrapping the two-child cap and a 4.8% state pension increase worth about £550 under the triple lock.
- A property package under discussion includes revaluing higher council tax bands and a surcharge on homes above about £2 million, with payments potentially deferred until sale or death.
- Ministers are considering limits on pension salary-sacrifice schemes and a pay-per-mile levy for electric vehicles, alongside freezes to rail fares and prescription costs.
- The Treasury plans to expand targeted case reviews to tackle benefit fraud, seeking roughly £1.2 billion by 2031, as the CBI and former Bank of England officials caution that repeated tax rises risk a negative market reaction.