Martin Lewis issues state pension warning after Budget

Martin Lewis has issued a key state pension update during his Budget special on Thursday, 27 November. The state pension will rise by 4.8% in April 2026, meaning that the new state pension will increase to £12,547.60 a year — just below the frozen personal allowance tax threshold at £12,570. The MoneySavingExpert quizzed Rachel Reeves, putting a question to her from a viewer who asked whether her 85-year-old father living with dementia would have to complete a tax return as his state pension will take him over the personal allowance. "If you just have a state pension... We are not going to make you fill in a tax return of any type... In this parliament, they won't have to pay the tax," the chancellor said.