Pensioners: Income Tax

(asked on 21st July 2026) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of pensioners with income at or near the level of the state pension who are now liable for income tax as a result of the freeze in personal allowance thresholds.


Answered by
Lord Pitt-Watson Portrait
Lord Pitt-Watson
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 5th August 2026

The number of individual income taxpayers over State Pension Age can be seen in the table below[1]:

Tax year

Number of individual Income Taxpayers over State Pension Age

2023 to 2024

8,160

2024 to 2025*

8,780

2025 to 2026*

9,080

2026 to 2027*

9,580

*Projected estimates based on the 2023 to 2024 Survey of Personal Incomes using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR’s March 2026 Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the forecast period.

The previous Conservative Government made the decision to maintain income tax thresholds at their current levels from April 2021 until April 2028 and this is reflected in the numbers.

The current Government has set out that individuals whose only income is the basic or new State Pension, without increments, will not pay income tax over this Parliament. Further details on this will follow.

[1] Income Tax liabilities statistics: tax year 2022 to 2023 to tax year 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

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