How the chancellor’s measures on tax, benefits and pensions will affect your personal finances Healey offers £100 payment to households to help navigate ‘global economic storms’ Budget 2026: key points at a glance Budget 2026 calculator: find out if you are better or worse off Josh graduated two years ago from an English university and is back home in London. He earns £28,500, out of which he pays £3,186 in income tax and £1,274 in national insurance (NI) contributions a year. This results in take-home pay of £2,003 a month or £24,040 a year. Despite an outcry, the salary threshold for repaying his plan 2 student loan will remain frozen at £29,385 for three years from next April, so any pay rise is likely to trigger payments. Graduates must repay 9% of earnings over the threshold. Continue reading...