No change to tax-free lump sum is ‘welcome’ move

The chancellor chose to leave the tax-free lump sum unchanged in the Autumn Budget The pensions tax-free lump sum has remained unchanged, despite speculation the chancellor would tinker with this in the Autumn Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her Budget today (26 November), confirming changes to salary sacrifice for pensions and inflation protections for pre-1997 pensions in the Pensions protection Fund and …

State Pension to increase by £460 a year, but most pensioners will still be worse off

With most pensioners paying tax, and more than half next year’s rise simply keeping pace with inflation, most pensioners will still be worse off overall in real terms if they lose the winter fuel payment. Last week’s labour market data shows that average earnings in the three months to July 2024 rose by 4.0% – likely the figure used to …