UK Budget 2026: Date, Time and What to Expect on October 28

Britain’s biggest financial day of the year is almost here. On Wednesday, Chancellor John Healey stands up in the House of Commons and delivers the Autumn Budget 2026, the first of the new Burnham government and the statement that will decide pensions, wages, fuel prices and household bills through 2027. For Britain’s large Pakistani community, from Bradford to Birmingham to East London, this one touches almost everything: the minimum wage many earn, the winter payments many receive, the fuel every taxi and delivery driver buys, and the savings rules every household follows. Here is the full picture: the exact date and time, what is already locked in, what the Chancellor is expected to announce, and what each decision means for your money.

Quick answer: the UK Autumn Budget 2026 is on Wednesday, 28 October 2026. Chancellor John Healey speaks at around 12:30pm UK time, right after Prime Minister’s Questions, with the OBR’s economic forecast published the same day. That is about 5:30pm in Pakistan. Expected highlights: state pension up about 3.9 percent to £13,036 a year, a fuel duty freeze to cancel January’s 3p rise, a National Living Wage rise towards around £13.18 from April 2027, and no increase in income tax, VAT or employee National Insurance rates.

UK Budget 2026 Date, Time and Where to Watch Live

Direct answer: the Budget speech starts at approximately 12:30pm UK time on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, immediately after Prime Minister’s Questions ends, and usually runs for about an hour. In Pakistani time that is around 5:30pm. The confirmed date came from the Chancellor’s own letter to the Treasury Select Committee, published on 31 July, which also commissioned the Office for Budget Responsibility to publish its forecast the same day.

You can watch it live on BBC Two, ITV, Sky News and Parliament’s own stream at parliamentlive.tv. The ritual is the same every year: the Chancellor poses outside 11 Downing Street with the red despatch box before heading to the Commons. Expect the Commons to be packed, because this is the first fiscal event of a brand new government still inside its first hundred days, and the markets will be watching every word for clues about borrowing and taxes.

First Budget of the Burnham Government: The Backdrop

John Healey, the Defence Secretary of the last parliament, now holds the Treasury keys under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, whose government took office just over three months ago. The inheritance is uncomfortable. Government borrowing hit £24.5 billion last month, more than expected, and borrowing costs have been pushed up by the same Middle East tensions sending oil prices surging, with weaker growth wiping billions from the fiscal headroom the Chancellor would otherwise enjoy. The independent OBR will publish its own verdict on all of this alongside the speech, and those numbers, not the announcements, often move the pound first.

Politics boxes Healey in from the left as well. Burnham has committed to honouring Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which rules out raising the rates of income tax, employee National Insurance and VAT, the three taxes that together collect nearly 60 percent of all UK revenue. Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives, polling their own recovery, will judge every measure against that pledge. What is left is a menu of smaller levers: thresholds, property and savings taxes, sector levies, and spending re-priorities, which is exactly why so much speculation has swirled around pensions, ISAs and fuel duty this autumn.

What Is Already Confirmed Before Budget Day

No headline rate rises: income tax rates, employee National Insurance rates and the main VAT rate stay where they are, a manifesto promise the Prime Minister has repeated. What is not protected is the fine print below.

Thresholds frozen until April 2031: the £12,570 personal allowance and the £50,270 higher-rate threshold are locked, so pay rises keep dragging more people into tax and higher bands without any rate changing. This stealth rise is already law and stays.

Cash ISA cut confirmed: from 6 April 2027 the cash ISA allowance for under-65s drops from £20,000 to £12,000 a year, pushing savers towards stocks and shares. Over-65s keep the full £20,000 for cash, and the overall ISA limit stays £20,000.

Already law for April 2027: savings income will be taxed at 22, 42 and 47 percent, and property income at the same rates, two points above today’s rates, under the Finance Act 2026. Inheritance tax on most unused pensions also lands that April.

Later confirmed changes: salary sacrifice pension contributions lose National Insurance relief above £2,000 a year from April 2029, electric cars face a pay-per-mile charge from April 2028, and the mansion tax starts the same month.

The Big Calls Expected on Wednesday

State pension up £489: the triple lock is expected to deliver a 3.9 percent rise on September’s earnings figure, taking the full new state pension from £241.30 to about £250.70 a week, £13,036 a year, above the £12,570 tax-free personal allowance for the first time. To stop the poorest pensioners being taxed into hardship, Healey is expected to raise a special tax-free allowance for low-income pensioners to match, worth around £200 million a year by decade’s end.

Fuel duty freeze expected: by law the 5p cut dies on 31 December 2026, with 3p returning on 1 January and 2p more on 1 March, about 6p a litre at the pump, £3.30 on a 55-litre tank. With oil near war-driven highs, the Financial Times and The Times both report Healey will cancel those rises and keep duty at 52.95p a litre, a visible helping hand for drivers and a small but real brake on inflation.

Minimum wage rise incoming: the Low Pay Commission’s advice on April 2027 rates lands with the Budget. Its early estimate puts the National Living Wage for over-21s between £13.02 and £13.34, central figure £13.18, up 3.7 percent from today’s £12.71. Around 2.4 million workers get it, and community businesses will feel the payroll side too.

Energy help over £1 billion: the Chancellor has signalled extra support for households facing high bills this winter, reportedly more than £1bn in targeted discounts on top of the existing scaffolding: the £150 Warm Home Discount for around six million homes, Winter Fuel Payments of £200, or £300 for the over-80s, and 0 percent VAT on household electricity for 2026-27, with the price cap at £1,723 for a typical dual-fuel home.

What the Budget Means for Your Money

If you work: your income tax bands do not move until 2028, which quietly taxes more of every raise. The wage floor rises again next April. Employee National Insurance stays at 8 percent between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2 percent above.

If you save: from next April you can shelter £12,000 a year in cash ISAs if you are under 65, so cash beyond that either goes into investments or faces the savings tax rates, which are themselves rising two points. The personal savings allowance stays at £1,000 for basic-rate and £500 for higher-rate savers.

If you rent out property: rental profits are taxed at 22, 42 and 47 percent from April 2027, already law, so budget-day speculation is about anything further, from landlord licensing noise to mortgage-interest reviews, rather than that rise.

If you drive: a freeze keeps petrol duty at 52.95p a litre and a 50-litre fill £2.50 cheaper than the legal default path. Watch Wednesday closely, because this is the one call drivers can measure the same afternoon.

If you are a student or graduate: the Plan 2 repayment threshold is expected to stay frozen at £29,385 from April 2027, so every pay rise above it pushes 9 percent straight to repayment.

If you send or receive money from Pakistan: nothing in the Budget touches remittances directly, but the pound’s reaction on the day moves every transfer rate instantly, and any freeze on fuel feeds into taxi, delivery and haulage incomes across the diaspora economy.

Why This Budget Feels Different

Normally a Chancellor arrives with one big rabbit. Healey arrives with the hutch empty: the three largest taxes are pledged shut, the thresholds are frozen by predecessors’ law, and the borrowing numbers have deteriorated on his watch. HMRC’s own yield table explains the temptation he is resisting, a single point on employer National Insurance would raise £11.15 billion and a point of VAT £8.8 billion, but breaking the pledge in the government’s first Budget would carry a political price neither Burnham nor Healey seems willing to pay. Instead expect what officials call a stability Budget, a handful of targeted rises, visible cost-of-living help, and a fight over the OBR’s growth verdict rather than the tax headlines. For households the practical summary is simple: no income tax rate shock, a bigger pension, a dearer cash ISA, a probable fuel freeze, and a wage floor heading towards £13.18.

The global backdrop makes the week busier still: across the Atlantic, America’s midterm elections on November 3 will decide Congress eight days later, and the Iran standoff keeping oil above $110 is the same force inflating Britain’s borrowing bill and its petrol prices. One week, three economies, one connected story.

Key Dates: From Budget Day to April 2027

Budget announcements do not land in your pocket on the day; most measures start at the new tax year. These are the dates that actually matter to your money between now and April:

Wednesday, 28 October 2026: the Budget speech and the OBR forecast, from about 12:30pm UK time. The fuel duty decision and the pension uprating become clear by evening.

December 2026 to January 2027: the 5p fuel duty cut expires on 31 December unless Wednesday’s freeze cancels the plan; either way, 1 January 2027 is the day pump prices move or do not.

1 January 2027: the £2 single bus fare cap also starts in England outside London, a small but useful change for commuters in towns where a short ride costs more.

6 April 2027: the big switch-on date. Cash ISA allowance falls to £12,000 for under-65s, savings and property income tax rates rise two points, the new state pension of about £250.70 a week starts landing, and the new minimum wage begins.

April 2028 and after: the pay-per-mile charge for electric cars and the mansion tax both begin in April 2028, and the salary sacrifice National Insurance cap of £2,000 arrives in April 2029, dates worth diarising if you plan big money moves.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is the UK Budget 2026 announcement?

Around 12:30pm UK time on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, straight after Prime Minister’s Questions, lasting about an hour. In Pakistan that is roughly 5:30pm. It streams live on BBC Two, ITV, Sky News and parliamentlive.tv.

Will income tax go up in Budget 2026?

The rates will not, under the manifesto pledge. But thresholds stay frozen until April 2031, and savings and property income are already legislated to be taxed two points higher from April 2027, so many households will still pay more over time.

How much will the state pension rise?

A 3.9 percent increase is expected, about £489 a year, taking the full new state pension to £13,036, roughly £250.70 a week from April 2027, with a matching tax-free allowance expected for low-income pensioners.

What is happening to fuel duty?

The legal default adds 3p a litre in January 2027 and 2p in March, but the Chancellor is widely reported to be freezing duty at 52.95p instead, cancelling both rises because of high oil prices.

What is the cash ISA change?

From 6 April 2027 the cash ISA allowance falls from £20,000 to £12,000 a year for under-65s. Savers aged 65 and over keep the full £20,000 for cash, and the overall ISA allowance stays £20,000.

What will the minimum wage be in April 2027?

The National Living Wage for over-21s is expected to rise from £12.71 to around £13.18 an hour, within a recommended range of £13.02 to £13.34, with the final figure confirmed around the Budget.

This guide is maintained by the blazinginfo.com UK desk and updated the moment the Chancellor sits down on Wednesday. Budget timing and procedure follow the official rules published on GOV.UK’s HM Treasury page. Which Budget measure affects you most, the wage floor, the pension or the fuel pump? Tell us in the comments and we will cover it in the follow-up after the speech.