Full Breakdown
Reform UK Vows £15,000 Tax-Free Personal Allowance in First 100 Days
9/5/2026, 8:20:30 PM
Core Announcement at the Birmingham Conference
Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, Robert Jenrick, told the party’s national conference that, if the party wins a general election, the personal income-tax allowance will be raised from the current £12,570 to £15,000 within the first 100 days of government. The move would lift the allowance by £2,430—the single largest increase in its history—taking roughly 2.9 million people out of income tax altogether and benefiting an estimated 40 million Britons.
Background & Context
The personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021, a policy that Reform describes as “fiscal drag” that has pushed workers deeper into the tax system. Both Labour and Conservative chancellors have been criticised for not adjusting the allowance in line with earnings growth.
Data & Statistics
- Allowance increase: £12,570 -> £15,000.
- Cost to Treasury: £17.7 billion in the first year, rising to £21 billion by the fifth year of the parliamentary term.
- Average taxpayer saving: about £500 per year.
- People removed from tax: 2.9 million.
- Overall beneficiaries: roughly 40 million.
- Funding plan: £80 billion of identified savings, broken down into £52 billion from welfare reform, £10 billion by ending net-zero subsidies, £7 billion from foreign-aid cuts, and £7 billion by reducing civil-service and quasi-autonomous-non-government-organisation headcount.
Official Statements & Responses
Reform’s Treasury team indicated that, while the budget would be presented within 100 days, the party could enact certain fiscal measures earlier using statutory instruments, potentially adjusting welfare spending and civil-service staffing “within days or weeks” of a win.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Andy Burnham said we did not need to be in hock to the bond markets but that is precisely where he has found himself in a matter of weeks,” — Robert Jenrick, treasury spokesperson
- “If you are, for example, someone who works in a distribution centre, like a lot of people in my constituency, you get up early, get your kids ready for school, work hard and then come home where you are struggling to cover your bills that keep going up,” — Robert Jenrick, treasury spokesperson
What’s Next
Reform has said a budget will be tabled within 100 days of taking office, and that some fiscal changes could be introduced “within days or weeks” after a win. The party also plans to publish an alternative local-government budget for Solihull Council, inviting residents to prioritize spending cuts, as reported on September 1. Further clarification on the sequencing of the £15,000 allowance and the longer-term £20,000 ambition is expected during the party’s post-election policy rollout.
