Budget 2026: what it means for parents near £100,000

The Budget on 28 October 2026 confirmed the tax rates for 2027/28, the tax year that starts on 6 April 2027. Here's what it means if you or your partner earn around £100,000.

What stays the same

• The £100,000 limits. The Personal Allowance still starts to shrink at £100,000 and has gone at £125,140, so the 60% tax trap stays. The £100,000 limit for 30 funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare is unchanged too.
• Frozen thresholds. The Personal Allowance stays at £12,570 and the higher-rate limit at £125,140. They're frozen until April 2031, so every pay rise pulls more families over £100,000.
• National Insurance. Still 8% on pay between £242 and £967 a week, and 2% above that.
• Pensions. The annual allowance stays at £60,000.
• Dividends. Tax on dividends stays at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35%, with a £500 allowance.

What changes in April 2027

• Tax on savings interest goes up by 4 percentage points, to 24%, 44% and 49%. Interest outside an ISA also counts towards the £100,000, so moving savings into ISAs helps twice.
• Child Benefit rises to £28.00 a week for the eldest child and £18.55 for each other child, from £27.05 and £17.90. The Child Benefit charge still starts at £60,000.
• Rental income gets its own tax rates of 24%, 44% and 49%. Hundred Line doesn't cover rental income yet.

Also from April 2027

• The National Living Wage rises to £13.21 an hour, so the minimum each parent must expect to earn for funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare rises to about £10,991 a year (16 hours a week).
• The Plan 1 student loan threshold rises to £28,005. The Plan 2 threshold stays at £29,385 until April 2030.

Coming in April 2029

Salary sacrifice into a pension will only be free of National Insurance on the first £2,000 a year. It still lowers your adjusted net income. What the 2029 change means.

What to do now

Hundred Line already uses the new rates. If you made a plan before the Budget, open it again: the top-up for 2027/28 may have changed, especially if you have savings interest outside an ISA.

More guides

• How much pension to get under £100,000: calculator

  Work out how much more to pay into your pension to bring adjusted net income back to £100,000, and what it costs.

• 60% tax trap calculator

  See how much of your income is taxed at 60%, what the lost Personal Allowance costs and how much pension gets you out.

• The 60% tax trap between £100,000 and £125,140

  Why income between £100,000 and £125,140 is taxed at 60%, and how pension contributions get you out of it.

• Losing funded childcare at £100,000

  How 30 funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare stop when either parent goes over £100,000, and what stays.

• Salary sacrifice, net pay and relief at source

  The three ways pension contributions are made, and how each one lowers your adjusted net income.

• The High Income Child Benefit Charge

  How Child Benefit is clawed back between £60,000 and £80,000, and why you should still claim.

• What is adjusted net income?

  The income figure behind the £100,000 childcare limit, the Personal Allowance taper and the Child Benefit charge.

• Salary sacrifice from April 2029: the £2,000 National Insurance cap

  From April 2029 only £2,000 a year of pension salary sacrifice is free of National Insurance. Why it still keeps you under £100,000.

• Bonus season: sacrificing a bonus to stay under £100,000

  How to put part of a bonus into your pension so it doesn't push you over £100,000, and when to ask.

Sources

• Budget 2026: rates and allowances (HMRC)
• Tax-Free Childcare: eligibility (GOV.UK)
• National Living Wage from April 2027 (Low Pay Commission)
• Student loan thresholds 2027 to 2028 (DfE)

Checked 31 October 2026 for England. This guide is general information, not financial advice.