Pensioners whose only income is the state pension will be protected from income tax, according to MoneyWeek's summary of the Budget. The measure had been reported before the statement but not confirmed by the Treasury.
How the protection will work and what it will cost have not yet been reported. It is not yet clear whether the £13,036 allowance reported before the Budget is the mechanism being used.
The pre-Budget reports said the protection would apply only to pensioners with no other income. The confirmed measure, as MoneyWeek describes it, covers those living on the state pension alone. That matches the reported eligibility limit.
The protection is needed because the full new state pension had been expected to reach £13,036 a year. That is above the £12,570 personal allowance, which is frozen until April 2031.
Pension experts warn that frozen thresholds will still pull other pensioners into income tax, MoneyWeek reports.