Autumn budget announcement round-up
3 mins read
Friday 30 October 2026
In Wednesday’s budget, the Chancellor John Healey set out a number of initiatives aimed at helping families facing higher bills.
Help with energy costs
Many of these confirmed earlier announcements made in the days leading up to the budget. However, Healey did make a surprise announcement of a new Household Energy Payment from January 2027. Householders in council tax bands A-D will receive £100 directly into their bank account.
It is expected that 20 million households in England will receive this payment. The Chancellor confirmed that the devolved government in other parts of the UK will receive equivalent funding.
Healey also confirmed that:
- The VAT cut on domestic electricity introduced on 1 October 2026 will be extended until July 2027. This takes £50 off the annual OFGEM price cap.
- The standing charge on gas bills will be abolished in 2027. Reform of electricity bill standing charges will be announced next year.
- Local authorities will have £100 million of further funding to provide targeted support to households impacted by rising energy bills. This will be delivered from January 2027.
Benefit changes
The budget did not include any new major benefits announcements.
Earlier this week, the government had already announced that it would be scrapping the current Carer’s Allowance cliff edge and replacing this with a taper. While a very welcome announcement, there will be some disappointment that this will not come into force until 2030.
The budget also confirmed:
- A 3.9% increase in the National Minimum Wage, raising the National Living Wage for those aged 21+ to £13.21 an hour and the 18-20 National Minimum Wage to £11.27. We expect this to mean that the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit is also increased by 3.9% in April from £204 per week to £211.36 per week.
- That entitlement to two weeks statutory parental pay would be extended to some fathers and same sex partners who do not currently qualify. This includes the self-employed and those who have only recently started working for their current employer.
- There will be increased funding to improve literacy levels in children, with £5 million a year for three years from 2027/28 funding organisations like Dolly Parton Imagination Library and BookTrust.
- £100 million extra funding for local apprenticeship schemes.
- The recruitment of more than 2,000 specialist fraud staff to prevent fraud in new and existing Universal Credit claim.
Timms and Milburn review updates
In his speech, the Chancellor also confirmed that both the Timms review into Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the Milburn review into the high numbers of young people not in education, employment or training will report next month. The government will then set out its responses before Christmas and publish a welfare reform White Paper with proposed changes to legislation in the New Year.
Contact will continue to call for the protection of vital disability payments for young disabled people during this process.