Spring Statement 2026: What You Need To Know

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, unveiled this year’s ‘Spring Forecast’ today in the House of Commons.

During the announcement Ms Reeves said that her economic plan was working in an “uncertain” world.

Ms Reeves shared that current levels of government borrowing is down by nearly £18bn compared to last autumn. And that the “headroom” (which is a bit like an emergency pot to avoid the government borrowing) has gone up from £21.7bn to £23.6bn.

But how does it affect you, we’ve rounded up key highlights from the speech below:

→ Economic growth : The Chancellor announced that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded its forecast for UK economic growth for 2026 to 1.1%. That’s down from the 1.4% prediction given in November 2025. However, the OBR increased its forecast for growth in 2027 and 2028 from 1.5% to 1.6%.

→  Inflation: Inflation, which is a tool we use to measure how quickly goods and services are rising, is forecast to fall faster than initial predictions to 2.3% this year, the Chancellor announced.

→  Unemployment: Unemployment in the UK is expected to peak at 5.3% this year. That’s up from 4.9% forecast in November. The OBR said that one of the key issues affecting the job market was “entrants into the labour force are struggling to find work amid subdued hiring demand.”That means people trying to find first-time employment are struggling the most to get into the job market.

What does that mean for you?

Some of the ways that the OBR’s forecasts could affect you include:

Cost of Living

Inflation helps us measure the cost of living. The current level of inflation for January 2026 is 3%, which is above the government’s 2% target. Even if inflation falls to the forecasted level of 2.3% by the end of the year, it still remains higher than 2.%.

It’s important to note that the forecasts were also made before the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East began, which could lead to higher inflation and interest rates than previously thought.

Disposable Income

The amount of disposable income (or money you’ll have leftover after paying tax) is expected to grow bvetween 0.6% and 0.9% each year from now until 2030.

This worked out to around £26,300 in disposable cash for households into 2025 and is forecast to gorw to £26,900 by 2030.

House prices

Property prices are predicted to increse betwen 2.4% and 2.9% each year between 2026 and 2030, the latest OBR figures show.

It follows steady house price growth, indicating confidence returning to the market.

What happens now?

This year’s Spring Statement intentionally didn’t set out anything new. That’s because the Chancellor wanted to keep major financial announcements on tax and spending to once a year in the autumn budget.

However, Ms Reeves indicated that later this month she would use a speech to set out “three major choices that will determine the course of our economy into the future.”