Budget 2026 calculator: find out if you are better or worse off

HM Treasury’s Budget 2026, delivered by Chancellor John Healey on 28 October, frames itself as a balance between short‑term relief for households and businesses and longer‑term structural change intended to strengthen growth and resilience. The government presents the package as “breathing space” from rising costs while asserting an explicit commitment to fiscal discipline and meeting its published fiscal rules. These twin aims — immediate cost‑of‑living measures alongside deficit reduction — shape the measures and the tone of the Treasury’s documents and speech. [1]

Healey opened his statement by emphasising help for families and firms facing global headwinds — notably higher energy and financing costs — and set out a number of headline interventions. The Budget extends a 0% VAT treatment for household electricity and removes a 4% tariff on kerosene (heating oil), measures that ministers say will directly reduce bills for households still reliant on those fuels. The Treasury also signals a range of regionally targeted investments — for example, new transport and regeneration spending highlighted for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — with additional devolved funding allocations specified in the regional press notices. [1]

On tax and public finances, the Treasury has published the Budget document and an accompanying collection of tax materials setting out the technical details and timing. Among the numbered changes in the published HTML Budget summary is a temporary increase in the Bank Corporation Tax Surcharge from 3% to 6% for 15 months from 1 January 2027 to 31 March 2028 — a targeted revenue measure affecting banks intended to help fund the broader package. The government reiterates that the combination of policy choices is designed to cut borrowing and create a buffer against future uncertainty.

The Budget also includes a substantial international security commitment: the announcement of an additional £10 billion package of economic and military support for Ukraine, described by Treasury material as the largest such UK package to date and intended to help Ukraine through the winter and to bolster its defence capabilities, including air‑defence assistance. The Treasury frames this as central to the UK’s national security and international responsibilities, and it is presented as a significant fiscal and diplomatic decision within the Budget. [2]

Practical implications and limits are clearly signposted in the government’s releases. While headline energy‑cost steps target immediate pressures for particular groups (electricity users and households using heating oil), the Budget emphasises conventional trade‑offs: relief for some costs is financed in part by temporary business and bank‑focused tax adjustments, and many measures are conditional on legal and fiscal timetables that will determine when and how they take effect. The Treasury’s published tax‑document collection warns that full technical detail and supporting papers will appear alongside or after the Budget, a reminder that specific impacts for individuals and firms depend on the final secondary legislation and administrative guidance.

Remaining uncertainties noted in the official material include the scale and distribution of the Budget’s net fiscal impact over the medium term and the degree to which announced investments and reforms will translate into faster private‑sector growth. The Treasury’s framing assumes that meeting its fiscal rules will provide market confidence and room for investment, but the documents also make clear that outcomes depend on international developments — particularly energy and geopolitical shocks — and on implementation across Whitehall and the devolved administrations. [1]

Sources: HM Treasury and related GOV.UK statements and publications, including the Chancellor’s Budget speech and the Budget 2026 document and regional press releases. [3]