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PPM Financial Planning Offering "No Tie" Independent Financial Advice. We regard ourselves as the GP's of financial services offering advice on all aspects of your finances.

Financial Planning for Business Owners, Business Leaders and Horse Racing Professionals
These are the areas we specialise in but we will sit down and create a plan with anyone who sees the value in planning for their future. As it is most peoples common goal to retire, it is this area where we specialise
providing bespoke individual retirement strategies that include pension, investment, business strategy planning, protection and savings advice.

26/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Pension triple lock reform breaks out

The state pension triple lock is set to be adjusted under new proposals.

The triple lock was introduced by the coalition government in 2010 with the goal of raising the value of the basic state pension as a proportion of average earnings. It currently requires the old and new state pension (but not any other state pension components) to increase each April by the greater of:

• Yearly consumer price index (CPI) inflation to the previous September;
• The annual growth in average earnings (including bonuses) for the previous May to July period; or
• 2.5%.

At the time of writing, it looks almost certain that for April 2027, the triple lock increase will be determined by the earnings growth number, which was 3.9%. August 2026 yearly inflation was 3.1%.

What might change?

In his late September speech to the Labour Party conference, Andy Burnham proposed to “adjust” the triple lock so that from 2030 onwards – after the next election – increases would be the greater of:

• CPI inflation;
• 2.5%; and
• the amount required to ensure the state pension grows in line with average earnings growth from 2030.

The difference from the current version may sound like the proverbial splitting of hairs, but it will have long-term impact. The present best-of-three system has a ratcheting effect, which means that in the long run the state pension rises faster than earnings. This would not be the case for Burnham’s adjusted triple lock.

According to the Resolution Foundation, if the new mechanism had been in place since 2012, it would have meant the State Pension was:

• 4.5% higher than if increases were linked to earnings, but
• 5.9% lower than the existing triple lock.

The impact would then probably come through only slowly. From 2030 there will be no effective change from the current version of the triple lock, while yearly earnings growth outpaces both price inflation and 2.5%. Nevertheless, in the long term, the savings on pension expenditure could be significant. The government estimates that by the end of the 2030s, savings could amount to £15 billion a year, rising to £50 billion a year by 2050.

Those savings are earmarked for funding adult social care, but they also mean a less generous state pension than the current triple lock would provide. A reminder that personal pension planning is a key component of future financial well-being.

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!CGT pot of gold at the end of the Treasury rainbow?New data on capital gains tax (CGT) arrives ...
23/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

CGT pot of gold at the end of the Treasury rainbow?

New data on capital gains tax (CGT) arrives in time for the hunt for extra revenue ahead of the Autumn Budget.

CGT is one of the taxes which regularly appears on the list of possible tax increases as a Budget nears. In recent years, the possibility has twice become a reality:

• The annual exemption, which is the amount of net gains that can be realised in a tax year free of CGT, was cut from £12,300 in 2022/23 to £6,000 for 2023/24 and then £3,000 for 2024/25, where it is now frozen.

• The main rates of tax were increased from 10% (basic rate taxpayers) and 20% (higher and additional rate taxpayers) to 18% and 24% respectively in the Autumn Budget 2024.

The result of the changes has been a sharp rise in CGT liabilities for individual taxpayers, as the graph above demonstrates. New figures released by HMRC in August 2026 showed that individuals generated £22.5bn of CGT revenue in 2024/25, 86% more than in 2023/24.

Such a leap in tax receipts is not quite what it appears to be and demonstrates one of the features of CGT. While it seems distant now, in July 2024, Keir Starmer won the last general election. By the end of that month Rachel Reeves had revealed a £22 billion ‘black hole’, prompting investors to fear tax rises in the Autumn Budget 2024. In what economists label a ‘behavioural response’, some investors chose to take profits and trigger a tax liability before the feared rate increase, boosting the CGT figure for 2024/25.

That behavioural response comes from a relatively small group. In 2024/25, just over 550,000 people had a CGT bill – roughly one in 70 income taxpayers. Even the 550,000 CGT-paying population is something of a misleading number, because nearly 33,000 people accounted for over three-quarters of that £22.5bn of CGT. Among them, 3,000 realised gains of at least £5 million, paying an average of £3.3 million in tax.

If you have always thought of CGT as somebody else’s tax problem, in the future you could discover that the lowly £3,000 annual exemption proves you wrong – yet another reason to maximise your contributions to CGT-free individual savings accounts.

Investing in shares should be regarded as a long-term investment and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.

The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and investors may not get back what they originally invested, even taking into account the tax benefits.

Investors do not pay any personal tax on income or gains, but ISAs may pay unrecoverable tax on income from stocks and shares received by the ISA managers.

Stocks and Shares ISAs invest in corporate bonds, stocks and shares and other assets that fluctuate in value.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!A fresh bloom on company cars Updated figures from HMRC reveal greener company cars are surging...
22/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

A fresh bloom on company cars

Updated figures from HMRC reveal greener company cars are surging in popularity.

This summer’s slew of statistics on income tax issued by HMRC revealed an interesting picture of how company car ownership has changed since 2020. The total company car population (the red line in the graph above) slumped to a low of 720,000 in 2019/20 and in 2020/21 but then rose by over a quarter in the next four years to 920,000.

As the graph illustrates, the recovery is thanks to zero emission (virtually all electric) cars. In 2019/20, only 1% of company cars were zero emission, but by 2024/25, the proportion had risen to 51%. That compares to an overall share of about 5% for zero emission vehicles in the UK at the end of 2025, according to government data.

One other major trend, also related to the spread of zero emission cars, is that the proportion of drivers receiving ‘free’ fuel has fallen to a low of just 4%. Indeed, these changes have been driven by restructuring of the tax regime for company cars:

• Nine years ago, the rules for taxing company cars that were provided under salary sacrifice or similar arrangements were reformed. Often the consequence was to make salary sacrifice a much less attractive option because of an increased tax bill. However, there was a concession made for low emission cars (those with CO2 emissions of up to 75g/km). In 2017, there were few vehicles that qualified (and even fewer that appealed to company car drivers).

• Six years ago, for zero emission cars, the benefit-in-kind percentage charge (based on original value) was slashed from 16% to 0%. It has since crept up, reaching 4% for 2026/27. That compares, for example, with a scale percentage of 25% for a petrol BMW 320i.

Before you rush to choose an electric car, you need to know that the government’s future plans are less generous to zero emission. The scale percentage will rise in coming years and be 9% by 2029/30. As ever, what HMRC gives, HMRC can take away.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!Personal allowance freeze or stealth tax hiding in plain sight?How much would it cost to increa...
20/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Personal allowance freeze or stealth tax hiding in plain sight?

How much would it cost to increase the income tax personal allowance?

The personal allowance is the amount of income that you can receive free of income tax. Since 2010, the personal allowance has not been a universal figure because of the introduction of a taper if ‘adjusted net income’ exceeds £100,000. The taper gradually reduces the personal allowance to nil at £125,140.

If you escape the taper, your personal allowance is £12,570, a figure that has been unchanged since April 2021, when then Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, froze it for five years. Before Sunak’s fix, the personal allowance had usually been increased by at least the rise in consumer price index (CPI) inflation. Two of Sunak’s five successors have extended the freeze, which is now due to end in April 2031.

As stealth taxes go, freezing the personal allowance was seen as an easy option:

• A Chancellor can state that they are not increasing taxes because they are not cutting the allowance.
• The reality is that taxes are being increased by inflation eroding the buying power of the allowance.

The stealth effect is beginning to wear thin as the rising slice of their earnings lost to tax becomes obvious to many, acknowledged by the Prime Minister as a doorstep topic during his by-election.

Perhaps more than coincidentally, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has been looking at how much it would cost to unfreeze the personal allowance. As it would be far too costly to make good the losses since 2021, the IFS considers the option of reinstating indexation from 2027/28. This is not quite as simple as it seems because the personal allowance currently also fixes national insurance and higher rate tax thresholds, raising the question of whether they should also increase. If they are unchanged, then the long-term cost of restoring indexation is £6.7 billion a year, not much less than the cutting of basic rate tax to 19%.

The tightness of the government’s finances implies the £6.7 billion would have to be replaced by higher taxes elsewhere (or, possibly, higher borrowing). All of which means that tax planning, rather than the Chancellor, is the more likely route to cutting your tax bill.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

Happy Birthday to our Senior Paraplanner Louise Wheeler.
16/10/2026

Happy Birthday to our Senior Paraplanner Louise Wheeler.

15/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Another chapter begins for long-term care in England

Andy Burnham has plans to deal with long-term care in England.

In March 2010, during the dying days of Gordon’s Brown’s Labour government, Andy Burnham was the Health Secretary. In that role, he published a White Paper on social care reform in England, proposing the establishment of a national care service. The new service was to be funded by state and individual contributions, but decisions on who would pay for what were deferred until after the impending election. In a surprise statement that contradicted what the then Chancellor had previously said, Burnham suggested that a compulsory levy on people’s estates after they have died had not been ruled out. That levy was instantly branded by the opposition as a ‘death tax’, a term that echoed around the subsequent election.

Fast forward 16 years and now Prime Minister Andy Burnham is once again talking about a national care service. On this occasion, the next general election is up to three years away, but the older and wiser Burnham is now more careful in what he says about his plans for dealing with social care. His speech on the topic, given in a North London care home, contained three announcements:

• Speeding up an existing review: In 2025, the Starmer government initiated a review into social care under Baroness Casey. It was due to issue a final report, including funding recommendations, in 2028. Burnham has brought that target forward to 2027. Casey’s report is the 23rd such review into social care.
• Focus on social care workforce: The Starmer government established a fair pay agreement for social care staff, due to start in 2028/29. Burnham wants to go further by lifting the social care workforce “closer to NHS standards”. He acknowledged that the lift would apply in terms of pay, but also in terms of training, wider support and job security.
• Cross-party approach: Perhaps it was the memory of 2010 that prompted Burnham to say he would aim for a cross-party approach. In practice, the goal looks likely to be unmet, as the Conservatives have offered their support conditional on no extra taxes or borrowing.

Realistically, it remains unlikely any change will start to operate until the 2030s – if it survives the next election. So factoring in your potential long term care should be part of your overall financial planning.

13/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Healey sets a pre-Halloween Autumn Budget

The Autumn Budget date has now been set for 28 October, with the new Chancellor facing some familiar challenges.

At the end of a fortnight heavily laden with announcements from Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his revised cabinet, what may prove to be the most significant statement made its appearance late on a Friday afternoon: the date of the Autumn Budget. The new Chancellor, John Healey, posted a video message revealing the Budget would be on Wednesday 28 October. That is about four weeks earlier in the year than the 2025 Budget but still leaves plenty of time for speculation to build.

So, what can we expect in late October from the second former defence minister named Healey to occupy 11 Downing Street? Among a long list to watch for are:

• Income tax: At the end of his first week, Burnham told The Times that the “frustration about the personal allowance” he experienced during his Makerfield by-election campaign had “lodged in my mind”. Shortly afterwards, he was more cautious: “There is no commitment at this point to change, but we will look at that at the Budget”. Any move away from the freeze that lasts until April 2031 would be costly.

• The VAT cut to electricity bills: This was Burnham’s first “breathing space” announcement, which the government said was “expected to take around £45 off the yearly Ofgem price cap in October”. However, it subsequently emerged the cut is only for six months, so it will be interesting to see whether Mr Healey makes any mention of its extension beyond March 2027.

• State pensions and tax: In her last Budget, Rachel Reeves said that “we are ensuring that people only in receipt of the basic or new State Pension do not have to pay small amounts of tax through Simple Assessment from April 2027”. F No more detail has emerged since; in the meantime, many tax experts have highlighted a variety of complex issues raised by the seemingly simple goal.

• The fiscal rules: When announcing the date of his Budget, John Healey was careful to say that “It will meet our fiscal rules’’. At present, this could mean tax rises as the latest estimates suggest more than half of the all-important fiscal headroom has disappeared since March, due to the fallout from the Iran war.

As ever, if you wish to undertake any pre-Budget planning, do not delay.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

08/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

The Treasury Committee wades into the debate about student loans

The House of Commons Treasury Committee has published a critical report on the operation of student loans.

Earlier this year the Department for Education (DfE) announced a 6% interest cap on Plan 2 student loans for one year from September 2026. The DfE press release claimed that the measure would “…protect students and graduates in England and Wales from the potential of inflation pressures due to the situation in the Middle East”, but the true impact of the change will be insignificant.

Shortly after the announcement was made, the March 2026 retail price index (RPI) was published. This sets the basis for 2026/27 interest on Plan 2 loans, which ranges from RPI to RPI+3%. The March RPI was 4.1%, so the maximum reduction in the interest rate was 1.1%. Plan 2 graduates with income of less than about £44,270 will see no benefit from the cap, as their loan interest rate is 6% or less. Even higher earners may not benefit if they do not clear their loan by the end of the 30-year repayment period.

The DfE rate cap was a move to counter growing criticism about the operation of student loans and, in particular, the former Chancellor’s 2025 Autumn Budget decisions to:

• Raise the income threshold for starting repayment on Plan 2 loans by 3.2% to £29,385 in 2026/27, but
• then freeze the threshold for the following three tax years, and then
• from 2030/31, link threshold increases to RPI rather than earnings. However, from February 2030, the RPI inflation calculation will be revamped, bringing it closer to the more widely quoted and generally lower consumer price index (CPI).

In July, the House of Commons Treasury Committee issued a damning report on student loans, saying that the government has “a moral obligation” to reverse the Budget decision to freeze the threshold at which student loans are repaid. It also suggested that the loan terms would be illegal, but for specific government exemptions.

Alas, the chances that the (new) government will take much notice of the Treasury Committee look slim. Outstanding student loans totalled £295 billion in March 2026, meaning even small downward payment adjustments run into billions. As the new university year begins, it is a reminder that student fee planning should not be ignored by parents – or grandparents.

06/10/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Pension tax-free cash: don’t let Budget rumours rush your decision

The tax-free lump sum offered by most pension arrangements steps back into the spotlight as the Autumn Budget nears.

“Anomalous, but much loved” was how one Chancellor, the late Nigel Lawson, described the tax-free lump sum from pensions in his 1985 Budget. Fast forward 41 years and 13 Chancellors2 later, the tax-free lump sum has survived, although since April 2006 it has formally been called the pension commencement lump sum (PCLS).

Since April 2020, the maximum PCLS has been the lesser of £268,275 and 25% of your total pension value, unless you benefit from one of the various transitional protections introduced over the years. The freeze has not stopped speculation that the cash limit will be cut, with a £100,000 figure that is commonly floated. The speculative hype was notable during the prolonged run up to the 2024 and 2025 Budgets, both of which were preceded by weeks of tax-rise rumours.

An unfortunate consequence of the unrealised threat to the PCLS was that some people were prompted to withdraw their lump sum ahead of the Budget, only to subsequently regret their action. HMRC data, obtained through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, showed that in 2024/25, the amount of PLCS drawn was 60% higher than in the previous tax year. In the run-up to the 2025 Budget, HMRC and the Financial Conduct Authority simultaneously issued pre-emptive statements about drawing the PCLS. The basic message from both bodies was that, once made, there was no way to reverse the transaction from a tax viewpoint.

As the Autumn 2026 Budget nears, it seems inevitable that the PCLS rumours will grow and, once again, lump sums will be drawn earlier than planned from a UK tax-free environment to be placed into a taxable one. If you are tempted to pre-empt the new Chancellor, take note that:
• Since the introduction of the current tax framework 20 years ago, any announcement of an effective reduction included protection for those who would have immediately lost out.
• As a means of raising revenue, reducing the PCLS limit is a slow burn option because it will only generate tax from those who draw the benefit, usually on retirement. To complicate HMRC’s calculations further, those retirees may delay drawing their lump sum if they face a tax bill.

Still not convinced? Then do take expert advice before making the irreversible choice.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

Village Magazine October Edition
05/10/2026

Village Magazine October Edition

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