Key Amendments Announced in the Autumn Budget 2026

In this article, we pull out the key amends announced in the Autumn budget that you’ll need to be aware of in terms of your CII exams. This article is particularly relevant to exams R01, R02, R03, R04, AF1, AF4, AF5, AF8, CF6, and R07.

This article is relevant to examinable tax year 2026/27 and is correct as at 10 November 2026.

Pension Tax Allowance (PTA)

One consequence of freezing the Personal Allowance is that, from April 2027, the full new State Pension will exceed the £12,570 Personal Allowance. The State Pension will increase by 3.9% under the Triple Lock, taking the full annual amount to £13,036.40.

To avoid pensioners on low incomes being required to pay small amounts of Income Tax solely as a result of this increase, the Government will introduce a new Pension Tax Allowance. This will ensure that pensioners, whose total annual income is no more than the full new State Pension (£13,036.40) will not pay Income Tax.

There will also be a tapered reduction in the Pension Tax Allowance for those whose total income exceeds £13,037, with the benefit gradually reducing to zero once annual income reaches £13,319.

How the Pension tax allowance works:

• Those with total income between £12,570 and  £13,037 (2027/28 tax year) will receive the full Pension Tax Allowance (worth up to £94) and pay no income tax.
• The allowance reduces by £1 for every £3 you earn over the full level of the new State Pension.
• Total income of £13,319 (2027/28 tax year) or more will not receive any Pension Tax Allowance.
• The Pension Tax Allowance applies to total income not just State Pension income so can include earnings from work, self-employment income, property or savings or a combination of these.
• The Pension Tax Allowance will be applied automatically rather than individually having to claim it.
• It is a tax reduction for people above State pension age, or those reaching State Pension age during the tax year.
• In tax years 2028/29 and 2029/30, the value of the Pension Tax Allowance will be increased in line with the full annual value of the new State Pensions.
• The allowance is due to be reviewed at the end of this parliament in 2030.

Tax changes from 6 April 2027

Tax on savings income and property income

The government had already announced a 2% increase to savings income and property income tax rates from April 2027 in last year’s budget, but chancellor John Healy, announced a further increase of 2%. So, from 6 April 2027, tax rates on savings and property income will increase by 4% taking the tax rate to 24% for basic rate taxpayers, 44% for higher rate taxpayers, and 49% for additional rate taxpayers.

Trading Allowance

The trading allowance will increase from £1,000 to £3,000.

Business Asset Disposal Relief

The lower 18% CGT tax rate on gains from business assets will now have a lifetime limit of £500,000 (from £1m).

Founder relief

The government announced a new CGT relief on gains made for individual who have played a significant role in founding a company and held a large equity stake from the start of trading. A lower 10% CGT tax rate on gains will apply up to a lifetime limit of £10m. This relief will be subject to a consultation and will apply to disposals on/after 6 April 2027.

Pensions

Serious ill-health lump sum

The rules will be widened so that a serious ill-health lump sum can be paid where a member is expected to live for less than 12 months, regardless of whether they have reached age 75.

Defined benefit scheme surplus:

From 6 April 2027, DB schemes will be able to make direct payments of surplus assets to members, subject to scheme rules and trustee agreement. Payments will be taxed as pension income.

ISAs

The planned £12,000 cap on Cash ISAs for those under age 65 has been scrapped and the £20,000 existing cash ISA annual limit will continue for everyone.

Lifetime ISAs

The charge for those using their Lifetime ISA (LISA) to buy a property worth over £450,000 will be reduced from 25% to 20% which means those purchasing more expensive properties will still lose the government bonus plus any growth on the bonus but will no longer lose any of their own savings.  Introduced From 29 October 2026.

The government intends to continue with plans to introduce a new First Time buyer ISA from April 2029. Under the new ISA, a government bonus of 25% will be payable on the final account balance up to a maximum of £20,000 over the life of the product.

When will I be tested on the new rules?

The CII states:

 “Candidates will be examined on the basis of law and practice in England unless otherwise stated.  The general rule is that the new tax year and changes arising from the Finance Act will be examined from 1 September each year. Other changes, not related to the Finance Act, will not be examined earlier than 3 months after they come into effect.”

Therefore, most changes detailed above will be tested from 1 September 2027. The Lifetime ISA penalty of 20% will be tested from around 29^th January 2027.