Autumn Budget 2026: pensions, bonds and inheritance tax

The Chancellor will deliver the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026, the same day the Office for Budget Responsibility publishes its forecast. The date comes from the Chancellor's letter to the Treasury Select Committee of 31 July 2026. This page is written before the Budget: it covers what is already law and which ParaplanAI figures depend on a fiscal event, and it will be updated from the Budget documents.

Already law: pensions and inheritance tax from 6 April 2027

Finance Act 2026 brings most unused pension funds and pension death benefits into a person's estate for inheritance tax, for deaths on or after 6 April 2027. The personal representatives report and pay the tax, with new duties on pension schemes to provide values. Some benefits, such as a dependants' scheme pension and qualifying death-in-service benefits, are left out. The detail is in pensions and inheritance tax from April 2027, with the personal representatives’ step-by-step, the spouse or civil partner exemption and death-in-service benefits.

Already law: savings rates on bond gains from 6 April 2027

For 2027-28 (from 6 April 2027) bond gains, as savings income, are taxed at the new savings rates — 22%, 42% and 47% — and the onshore bond credit rises with the savings basic rate to 22% (Finance Act 2026 s.5; ITTOIA 2005 s.530(1) as amended). How that plays out for onshore and offshore bonds is in onshore vs offshore bonds and top-slicing relief.

Already law: the salary sacrifice cap from 6 April 2029

From 6 April 2029 only the first £2,000 a year of employee pension contributions made through salary sacrifice is due to remain free of National Insurance. The National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026; it sets the framework, the start year and the first £2,000 limit, and the charge itself will be brought in by regulations. Income-tax relief on pension contributions is unchanged. See salary sacrifice and the April 2029 National Insurance cap.

The ParaplanAI figures a Budget can change

A Budget can change rates, bands and allowances for future tax years. The latest tax year ParaplanAI’s income tax, pension and bond calculators cover is 2026/27. ParaplanAI adds a later tax year only once its figures are confirmed, and records the source of each figure in that year's configuration. The calculators that use tax-year figures of this kind are:

• income tax, savings and dividend rates and the personal allowance: income tax calculator and pension withdrawal tax calculator
• pension allowances: annual allowance calculator
• investment bond gains: chargeable event gain calculator and top-slicing relief calculator
• the High Income Child Benefit Charge: HICBC calculator
• National Insurance on salary sacrifice: salary sacrifice calculator
• inheritance-tax bands on pensions from April 2027: Pension IHT calculator

The figures each year uses, with their sources, are on the rates and allowances pages. For planning and illustration only; this page describes the law and is not tax or financial advice.

Chancellor’s letter to the Treasury Select Committee, 31 July 2026 · Finance Act 2026 · Finance Act 2026 s.5 · HMRC “Inheritance Tax on pensions” technical note · National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act 2026 s.1