The UK’s Autumn Budget will be delivered on 26 November, Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has confirmed.

The date is later than in previous years, in a move intended to give the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) more time to refine its forecasts amid rising borrowing costs and fragile economic growth.

Announcing the event in a video posted on YouTube, Reeves stressed the importance of fiscal restraint, pledging a “tight grip on public finances” and reaffirming Labour’s commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT for working people.

However, she did not rule out reforms in other areas, including capital gains, inheritance and property taxes.

Reeves acknowledged the pressure on the public finances, citing soaring gilt yields at their highest since 1998 and forecasts suggesting a deficit of around £20bn, potentially closer to £40bn.

She also warned that while the UK economy “isn’t broken”, it is “not working well enough for working people”, adding that “you put more in, get less out - and that has to change.”

For the pensions sector, the timing of the Budget comes at a critical juncture.

Proposals previously signalled by policymakers, such as changes to tax-free lump sums, revisions to pension tax relief, reforms to salary sacrifice arrangements and the inclusion of pension death benefits within inheritance tax (IHT), are expected to resurface as potential tools to close the fiscal gap or rebalance the system.

Reforms to IHT treatment of death benefits, first raised in earlier consultations and due to take effect from April 2027, remain particularly significant, with delayed but potentially far-reaching implications for estate planning and workplace schemes.

Meanwhile, recent reports suggest Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, has been appointed as a key aide to Reeves in the run-up to the Budget.

The New Statesman has described Bell as one of Labour’s “sharpest minds”, though Treasury sources have indicated that Financial Secretary Spencer Livermore, a former No.10 strategy director, will remain Reeves’ closest ministerial colleague.

The announcement has intensified speculation over the content of the November statement, particularly after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the government will need to make “difficult decisions” to rebuild fiscal buffers in light of the UK’s ageing population.

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