Pension Salary Sacrifice Changes Explained

Chancellor John Healey has scrapped the planned cut to the cash ISA allowance, so savers can still put £20,000 a year into an ISA tax-free. But from April 2027, tax on savings interest outside an ISA rises to 24%, 44% and 49%.The new tax year starts on 6 April 2027. Unused ISA allowance is lost, pensions start counting towards inheritance tax, and the oldest year of unclaimed pension tax relief runs out.Edmund Greaves sets out what the Budget means for your money and what to check before April. He explains the changes for savers, pension holders and landlords, from the 64% tax that can hit an inherited pension to the rise in property income tax. He also looks at what's new for first-time buyers, pensioners, side hustles and student loans.Check your ISA allowance on GOV.UK:https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts The full checklist, with every deadline, is on the Mouthy Money Substack:https://mouthymoney.substack.com/ 00:00 What You Need to Know Before the New Tax Year01:17 ISA Allowances and Savings Tax Changes03:36 Pension Inheritance Tax Changes05:36 How to Claim Higher-Rate Pension Tax Relief07:46 Frozen Income Tax Thresholds08:21 New Tax Rules for Landlords09:15 Capital Gains and Dividend Allowances10:12 Lifetime ISA Changes for First-Time Buyers11:13 The New First Home Scheme12:57 Changes for Pensioners13:56 Side Hustles, Student Loans and Other Tax Changes14:57 Your End-of-Tax-Year Checklist

Higher-rate taxpayers left between £450 million and £1.3 billion of pension tax relief unclaimed in 2023-24, according to figures HMRC gave the pensions consultancy LCP.If your pension comes out of your pay after tax, your provider adds 20% tax relief automatically. If you pay 40% tax, the other 20% has to be claimed from HMRC yourself, and HMRC won’t pay it unless you ask.Edmund Greaves checks LCP’s figures and works out what’s owed at seven salaries, from £55,000 to £150,000. He explains the payslip test that shows which kind of pension you have, the quick “divide by four” rule and why the claim is worth more in Scotland, for parents and for anyone earning over £100,000. He also sets out how he claimed his own relief back, why you never need a claims company and why the oldest year you can claim for runs out on 5 April 2027.Claim tax relief on pension contributions on GOV.UK:https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-reliefThe full breakdown, with every salary band, is on the Mouthy Money Substack:https://mouthymoney.substack.com/00:00 Are You Missing Pension Tax Relief?01:45 How Pension Tax Relief Works04:11 Why HMRC Doesn't Pay Automatically06:02 How Much Tax Relief Goes Unclaimed?08:23 How to Calculate What You're Owed10:13 Pension Tax Relief by Salary11:13 How to Claim Your Money Back13:16 Claim Deadlines and Common Mistakes13:47 Why the Pension Tax Relief System Needs Reform

The UK government spent £130 billion on debt interest last year, according to the Treasury. That’s more than defence and the police, courts, prisons and fire service put together.Every year HMRC sends you an annual tax summary showing where your income tax and National Insurance went. Debt interest sits fourth on the list, but it buys nothing new. It only pays for borrowing that has already happened.Ahead of the budget on 28 October, Edmund Greaves goes through the Treasury’s spending accounts and rebuilds the tax summary at six salaries, from £25,000 to £150,000. He explains how much of your tax goes on pensions, health and debt interest in pounds, and what the summary leaves out, including VAT, employer National Insurance and borrowing. He also sets out what he’d look at before budget day, from frozen thresholds to the £100,000 personal allowance trap.Find your annual tax summary on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/annual-tax-summaryThe full breakdown, with every salary band, is on the Mouthy Money Substack: https://mouthymoney.substack.com/00:00 Where Does Your Tax Money Go?01:35 How the UK Government Spends Your Taxes04:35 The Hidden Cost of National Debt06:41 Breaking Down Taxes by Salary09:01 What Your Tax Summary Leaves Out10:10 How Much Tax You Pay at Different Salaries12:24 What to Check Before the Budget13:38 Why Government Spending Is Hard to Cut

Ed and his family spent the best part of £6,000 to £7,000 on two holidays abroad this year. Their old VW Polo then needed £700 for a service and about £1,000 more in repairs, which is more than the car is worth. The loan on their other car was ending at the same time, freeing up £300 a month. Ed explains how the family weighed those three pressures and decided on a converted VW Transporter camper van.Chris Tuite puts the money questions to him. They cover diesel at close to £2 a litre, insurance at £33 a month and a £400-a-month loan in place of PCP. Ed also explains how he checked a used van's MOT history before buying, and how the van doubles as somewhere to sleep after late trains home from London.00:00 The big decision02:03 What our holidays cost07:33 The Polo's repair bill08:36 Three things at once10:54 The van we bought11:52 The super commuter15:52 Fuel and insurance19:04 Checking a used van's MOT history22:13 How we're paying for it24:15 Holidays with small kids

Around 827,000 young adults in the UK have a Child Trust Fund they have never claimed. The average unclaimed pot is worth £2,310, according to HMRC.The government opened one of these accounts for every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Each started with at least £250, and many families never knew where the money went.Edmund Greaves speaks to Ged Killen of HMRC about how to track down a lost account. He explains what details you need, how long the search takes and what your options are once the account matures at 18. He also says why you should never pay a tracing agent, or hand over your bank details, to find it.Search "Find a Child Trust Fund" on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-fundsThe full breakdown is on the Mouthy Money Substack:https://mouthymoney.substack.com/

Andy Burnham has announced the end of the pensions triple lock, but the change doesn't start until 2030 and your state pension still rises in full next April. Edmund Greaves and Chris Tuite unpack the three big money announcements from Labour's conference. These are the new state pension formula, the Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers and new council powers over empty homes. They finish with the changes already locked in for April 2027, covering the state pension, cash ISAs and inheritance tax on pensions.0:00 Intro2:01 The end of the triple lock7:52 Your First Home scheme16:33 Councils taking over empty homes20:28 What's coming in April 2027This episode is for information only and is not financial advice.

Nearly half of people paying into a workplace pension can't say how much their employer puts in, and one in five don't know whether their employer would pay more if they did.Paul Davies, pensions expert at Which?, joins Edmund Greaves and Chris Tuite to work through new Which? research: what the law says your employer must pay, why the percentages are not taken from your whole salary, how matching works and what to check on your own payslip this week. Edmund and Chris test themselves on air first.The episode also covers how often the legal minimum is all an employer pays, how public sector schemes differ and what the Pensions Commission could change when it reports.Paul's Which? guide to public sector pensions: https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/saving-for-retirement/what-is-a-public-sector-pension-aobOd3f81QK1Our earlier episode on the £100,000 pension tipping point: https://youtu.be/bjEh2c-4R9IGet the Mouthy Money newsletter: https://mouthymoney.substack.comResearch: Deltapoll surveyed 1,294 UK working adults for Which? between 14 and 17 August 2026.General information rather than financial advice. Pension values can fall as well as rise.

From 6 April 2029 the government will cap the National Insurance saving on salary sacrifice pension contributions. The first £2,000 a year stays free of National Insurance, and everything above that will be taxed like ordinary pay. The CIPP puts 3.3 million workers in scope.Edmund Greaves and Chris Tuite explain what salary sacrifice is, why middle earners gain more from it than high earners do, and what the cap actually changes. National Insurance falls from 8% to 2% above the higher-rate threshold, which is why someone earning £28,000 saves proportionally more than someone on £80,000.They also work through the drawbacks of carrying a lower gross salary, from mortgage affordability and maternity pay to income protection and redundancy, and answer whether any of it affects your state pension.Nothing changes until April 2029. Check your payslip to find out whether you are already on salary sacrifice, and talk to HR or payroll if you are not sure.Chapters00:00 The perk in your payslip that's about to be taxed00:48 What we cover in this episode01:28 The law has already passed02:33 Why the £100,000 threshold matters so much04:24 Fiscal drag is pulling more people in05:26 How salary sacrifice actually works07:02 Why the highest earners gain the least08:06 The numbers at £28,000, £50,000 and £80,00010:14 The catches: mortgages, maternity pay and cover14:08 What changes in April 202915:19 The cliff edges at £60,000 and £100,00017:15 What to do before 202919:44 Chris's verdict and the name problem20:56 Over to you

Sean Standerwick is a chartered financial planner, and a fair part of his job is talking people out of distrusting their own pension. This episode is what he tells them.You come away with a number to measure your own pot against. The Retirement Living Standards put a single person's minimum retirement at £13,900 a year, a moderate one at £32,700 and a comfortable one at £45,400, against a full state pension of £12,547.60.You also get the tax case in three parts — relief going in, no tax while the money is invested, and 25% available tax free on the way out — along with the three routes to paying in: salary sacrifice through work, your own limited company, or personally.The second half is the more useful part if you are the sceptic yourself. Sean argues that people seldom object to the pension itself and mostly resist being sold to, and he works through two clients who talked themselves round once the conversation changed shape.Figures are current for the 2026/27 tax year. This episode is information rather than financial advice.

From April 2027 the cash ISA allowance for under-65s drops from £20,000 to £12,000. The overall allowance doesn't move, so £8,000 a year has to go somewhere that isn't cash. For a lot of people that turns investing from a someday decision into a this-year one.Edmund Greaves is joined by Andy Prosser, Head of Investments at the ETF platform InvestEngine, on how to pick what you invest in — time horizon, risk tolerance, the difference between an ETF and a traditional fund — and on what InvestEngine's own investors have been buying this year. Ed also explains what he got wrong when he started.InvestEngine investing data: https://blog.investengine.com/most-bought-etfs-july-2026/https://blog.investengine.com/most-popular-etfs-uk-2026/Nothing here is financial advice. Investing involves risk and you can lose money. ISA and tax rules can change.