The HMRC Personal Allowance is the amount of income you can earn each financial year before you start having to pay tax.
The standard rate of personal allowance is £12,570, although some people can have higher amounts, and some higher-earners lower, depending on what they take home and how much they put into their pension.
It decreases if your income is over £100,000. For every £2 you earn over £100,000, you lose £1 of your tax-free Personal Allowance.
When will the HMRC Personal Allowance increase?
The last Government froze the threshold back in 2021, saying it would remain until April 2028, rather than allowing it to rise with inflation and wage growth, meaning more people will go onto higher tax brackets.
If you’re married or in a civil partnership, you may be able to claim Marriage Allowance to reduce your partner’s tax if your income is less than the standard Personal Allowance.
If you do not claim Marriage Allowance and you or your partner were born before 6 April 1935, you may be able to claim Married Couple’s Allowance.
When does the personal allowance renew?
It will renew on April 6, which is the start of the new UK HMRC tax year, for 2025 to 2026.
It's a big date for new allowances - it's when your pension, personal allowance, an ISA or self-employed financial allowances all renew.
There's more details about the new tax year and your allowances in this guide.
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The petition to raise the HMRC income tax personal allowance threshold from £12,570 to £20,000
There has been disappointment that despite a petition to raise the HMRC income tax personal allowance threshold from £12,570 to £20,000 receiving more than 237,000 signatures and a response from the treasury, there were no changes in the Spring statement 2025.
Signatures can still be added here.
The petition to Parliament was started by Alan David Frost, saying: "Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12570 to £20000. We think this would help low earners to get off benefits and allow pensioners a decent income.
"We think it is abhorrent to tax pensioners on their State Pension when it is over the personal allowance. We also think raising the personal allowance would lift many low earners out of benefits and inject more cash into the economy creating growth."
Once a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the Government responds, and if 100,000 people sign, a debate in Parliament is considered.
An update on the Parliament petitions website says "The Government has no plans to increase the Personal Allowance to £20,000. Increasing the Personal Allowance to £20,000 would come at a significant fiscal cost of many billions of pounds per annum.
"This would reduce tax receipts substantially, decreasing funds available for the UK’s hospitals, schools, and other essential public services that we all rely on. It would also undermine the work the Chancellor has done to restore fiscal responsibility and economic stability, which are critical to getting our economy growing and keeping taxes, inflation, and mortgages as low as possible.
"The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way."
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