The Pension Schemes Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April and became the Pension Schemes Act, marking the most significant overhaul of pensions in a decade. The Act will bring about significant reforms to the UK pensions system, benefitting workers by up to £29,000 by the time of retirement according to the Government. The Government’s statistics claim that […]
Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts are continuing to climb in the UK, with The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasting that IHT will raise a total of £8.7bn in the 2025-26 tax year. This means more families are considering passing wealth between generations earlier, reflecting a broader shift in how families are thinking about their finances. As property […]
The Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unusually voted unanimously to hold its base rate at 3.75% on the back of major geopolitical issues in the Middle East. All members of the MPC voted to hold the base rate in the meeting on 18 March 2026. The committee said its primary cause for caution […]
At the end of February we were talking about the FTSE 100 edging towards 11,000 with rumblings of a possible energy crisis clouding the horizon as news of the bombing of Iran broke. The 45th and 47th President of the United States gave us plenty more to talk about by the end of March. Markets […]
New tax rules and rates after changes made in the 2025 Autumn Budget are set to take effect from the new tax year (2026/27) From April 2026, dividend tax rates for basic and higher-rate taxpayers will increase by two percentage points, rising to 10.75% and 35.75% respectively. The additional rate will remain unchanged at 39.35%. At the same […]
Introduction President Trump has once again hijacked the headlines with a strike on Iran at the very end of the month. The implications are yet to be understood. It took some attention away from the UK government’s latest headache, a by-election loss to the Green Party and a mixed bag of economic results. Meanwhile, the FTSE […]
Graduate unhappiness with retrospective changes to the Plan 2 student loans has erupted after the Government made changes to repayment thresholds in the November Student loans come in a range of different plans, from the early Plan 1 loans to Plan 5 loans for those starting education after 1 August 2023 in England. The focus of ire has centred […]
Investing has outperformed cash savings for a third consecutive year according to data from Moneyfacts, despite elevated cash ISA interest rates. The data underpins important considerations about the risk of holding too much cash ahead of the cut to the cash ISA allowance for under-65s – due to be implemented from April 2027. Moneyfacts found the […]
Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered on her promise that the Spring Statement would be a fiscal non-event. It contained no policy changes and very little in the way of good news. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded the growth forecast for 2026 to 1.1%, down from 1.4% forecast in November 2025. The growth projections now […]
Introduction President Trump started 2026 with a bang. Financial markets were once again responding to unexpected Trump administration policy decisions, and a number of big US tech stocks announced their results in January. There is a feverish interest in whether the ‘AI bubble’ really exists and a lot of scrutiny on financial results as they […]