The consequences of successive governments freezing income tax personal allowance are beginning to emerge.
The impact of a decade of personal allowance freezes
On 6 April 2016, the new State pension was launched at the rate of £155.65 a week (£8,093.80 a year) and the income tax personal allowance increased by £400 to £11,000. If you were about to reach State pension age (SPA) – then 65 for men and 63 for women – you had about £2,900 of headroom above your State pension before you started to pay income tax on any other pension income.
State pension vs personal allowance in 2026
Fast forward ten years to 6 April 2026, the start of the next tax year:
• The new State pension (from age 66 for all) will be rising to £241.30 a week (£12,547.60 a year) and the income tax personal allowance will be £12,570, the same level it has been since April 2021.
• If you are then about to reach your SPA (66 for all), you would find just £22.40 separated your new State pension from the personal allowance.
• If you have any private pension income, or more State pension than the basic amount, you would likely be a taxpayer.
Looking ahead: The gap will keep growing
Thanks to the last Budget, the personal allowance will now remain at £12,570 until at least April 2031. Even if the new State pension only increases at its minimum triple lock rate of 2.5%, it will be £292 above the personal allowance in April 2027. Each year thereafter until 2031, the new State pension will pull further away from the personal allowance.
The budget's "fudge" and what it means
Until the Budget, the implication was that from April 2027, a pensioner who receives only the State pension would become a taxpayer, forcing HMRC to issue a Simple Assessment to collect a minimal amount of tax (about £58 in 2027/28). The Budget proposed a fudged solution that would remove such pensioners from Simple Assessment, provided they had no State pension increments or other income. On the face of it, in 2027/28, two pensioners could have the same total pension income, but one will escape tax if the income is all basic State pension, while the other, with a smaller State pension and a counterbalancing private pension, will be a taxpayer.
Higher rate tax trip-wires
The same sort of frozen tax trip-wire means you might be dragged into higher rate tax (starting threshold £50,270 outside Scotland) in the coming years. Time to review your income tax planning again.
