Self-employed Class 4 National Insurance fell to 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 from April 2024 and stays there for 2025/26. Here's how it works, who pays, and worked examples on real profit figures.
How the UK Cycle to Work salary sacrifice scheme saves a basic-rate taxpayer £336 and a higher-rate taxpayer £504 on a £1,200 bike — full worked example for 2025/26 including the BIK end-of-hire charge.
How much emergency fund a UK household needs in 2026 — 3 to 6 months of essentials, where to hold it (Cash ISA, easy-access, Premium Bonds), and a worked example for a £2,500/month family budget.
Gifts you make are Potentially Exempt Transfers — IHT-free if you survive 7 years. Taper relief, the £325k nil-rate band trap, and how PETs interact with regular gifts out of income. Worked examples.
Bed-and-ISA looks like a clever loophole — sell a holding, repurchase it inside your ISA, lock in tax-free growth. But the 30-day rule, frozen £3,000 CGT allowance and reduced dividend allowance change the maths. Here's what actually works in 2025/26.
Full rules for transferring Cash ISA to Stocks & Shares ISA in 2025/26: partial transfers, current-year vs prior-year, the 15-day deadline, and how to avoid breaking the £20,000 allowance.
The £1.073m Lifetime Allowance was abolished from 6 April 2024 and replaced by three new limits in 2025/26: Lump Sum Allowance (£268,275), Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (£1,073,100), and an Overseas Transfer Allowance. Here's how the new framework works.
The Lifetime ISA 25% withdrawal charge is not the same as losing the 25% bonus — it claws back more. Worked example on a £20,000 LISA closed early: the real penalty is 6.25% of your contributions, plus all the growth on the recovered bonus.
How UK maternity pay works in 2025/26 — Statutory Maternity Pay £187.18/week, Maternity Allowance, occupational top-ups, the 39-week structure, plus tax and NI treatment with worked examples.
From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage rises to £12.71/hour for over-21s. Full new UK minimum wage rates, who qualifies, and the annual £1,040 pay rise for a 37.5-hour week worker.
Every 3 years UK employers must re-enrol staff who previously opted out of the workplace pension. The 2026 re-enrolment cycle explained: dates, who's caught, employer duties, and how the 8% minimum contribution rebuilds a pension pot worth tens of thousands by retirement.
UK pension carry forward lets you sweep up to three years of unused £60,000 annual allowance into one tax year — up to £200,000 total contributions. How it works, the rules and a worked example saving £24,000.
