The start of April marks major financial changes with bills, taxes, pensions, and benefits all due to change
We might be looking ahead to April and thinking of Easter, or wishing for sunnier and warmer days ahead, but the spring also heralds lots of significant financial changes.
As the tax year ends and another one begins there are implications for savers while the start of April also brings with it major changes for benefits and many taxes.
Anyone who pays for a TV licence will be paying more while water bills will also creep up. We’ve pulled together all the key changes coming within the next few days and, further down, you’ll also find other financial changes on the calendar for the remainder of 2026. For money-saving tips sign up to our Money newsletter here.
The big money changes taking effect within days
April 1 – Welsh Government new financial year
- The new financial year for the Welsh Government and local authorities begins.
April 1 – Two-child benefit cap is axed
- The two-child cap prevents households on universal or child tax credit from receiving payments for a third or subsequent child born after April 2017. The UK Government will remove the two-child limit within universal credit from April 2026.
April 1 – Business rates revaluation
- The Valuation Office Agency uprates the values of more than two million businesses and non-domestic properties every three years. These values are used to calculate bills for businesses but an increase in your rateable value does not necessarily mean your business rates payments will increase by a similar amount.
April 1 – Council tax rises
April 1 – Car tax rises in line with RPI
April 1 – TV licence fee rises
- This is set to rise with inflation and will go from £174.50 to £180.
April 1 – Minimum wage rise comes into effect
- The National Living Wage will increase by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour. The National Minimum Wage for 18-20-year-olds will increase by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour and for 16-17-year-olds and apprentices by 6% to £8 per hour.
April 1 – Water bills rise
- The average bill is set to rise by £33 (5.4%) in England and Wales, bringing a typical yearly bill to £639 from £606 before, according to industry body Water UK. Exactly what you pay, though, will vary depending on where you live as well as other factors.
April 1 – New energy price cap comes into effect
- Some good news here has the cap will actually fall by 6.7% for a typical household meaning those paying by direct debit can expect to pay £1,641 a year rather than £1,758 before. Bear in mind, though, that each price cap only lasts three months so further changes will take effect in July and October.
April 1 -Air passenger duty changes come in
- These typically rise with RPI but will see bigger rises because in the past the forecast level of RPI has been lower than the actual level so a slightly larger rise will make up the gap. The higher rates on larger private jets will rise by an extra 50%.
April 5 – End of the tax year
- This is the deadline to use your ISA and pension allowances for 2025-26 and to take advantage of annual tax allowances including your capital gains tax allowance.
April 6 – Start of the new tax year
- Earlybirds will take as much advantage as possible of their annual tax allowances and put money into ISAs and SIPPs.
April 6 – Inheritance tax hike
- Agricultural property relief and business property relief cuts come into effect. From this point when someone dies inheritance tax will apply after the first £1m of business and agricultural assets. There will be 50% relief at an effective rate of 20%. This will also apply to qualifying AIM shares, which previously fell out of your estate once you had held them for at least two years.
April 6 – The dividend tax rate will be hiked
- It will rise from 8.75% to 10.75% for basic-rate taxpayers and 33.75% to 35.75% for higher-rate taxpayers after changes were announced in the Budget.
April 6 – Tax relief on venture capital trust (VCT) is cut
- The tax relief on VCTs will be cut from 30% to 20%.
April 6 – New state pension and benefits rates come into effect
- State pension rates will rise 4.8% in line with wage data thanks to the triple lock. This means someone on a full new state pension will see their weekly payment rise to £241.30 per week. Someone on the full basic state pension will see their weekly payment boosted to £184.90 per week.
- Jobseekers’ allowance, housing benefit, and universal credit and other benefits also rise on this date. For universal credit the basic standard allowance will rise while additional health payments will fall.
Changes due later this year
May 31 – Deadline for issuing P60s
This is the first day that many employees can easily submit their tax returns for the previous tax year.
July 1 – New energy price cap comes into effect
October 1 – New energy price cap comes into effect
July 31 – Payment on account deadline
- Self-employed people need to make advance payments towards their tax bill.
September 14 – First day to claim winter fuel payment
- Pensioners will be paid automatically if they received it in 2025 and are still eligible. New claimants can start from this date. Those who want to claim by phone will have to wait until October.
October 1 – New tax on vaping and a rise in the rates on tobacco
- A new duty will be charged on vaping products at £2.20 per 10ml of vaping liquid. At the same time there will be a one-off rise in tobacco duty so people still have an incentive to switch. This was announced in the 2024 spring budget by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
October 5 – Deadline to register for self-assessment
October 21 – Inflation figures
- These are used as part of the triple lock for next April’s state pension and for uprating working age and disability benefits.
October 31 – Deadline to file paper self-assessment tax return
- People are overwhelmingly filing self-assessment tax returns online but those who prefer to do it on paper will need their returns to arrive with HMRC by this date.
November 26 – tobacco duty rises
- Duty rates on all tobacco products will increase by RPI inflation plus two percentage points – this is in addition to the one-off rise in October.
