Five money updates you could hear in Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement tomorrow | Personal Finance | Finance

Rachel Reeves will announce the government’s Spring Statement tomorrow with the Labour Party desperate to reinstall confidence in the economy. As well as an update on her plans for the economy, the Chancellor will provide projections for public spending and growth during the statement in the House of Commons.

She previously said: “The spring forecast is just a forecast. We’ve committed to just one fiscal event, one Budget, a year. What we will have next week at the spring forecast is an update in the forecasts for inflation, for interest rates, for government borrowing.” She added: “But I was really clear that I wanted to end the instability of Budget after Budget, mini-Budget, fiscal events, that we had under the previous government, where we had five prime ministers and seven chancellors, and instead return the stability that is needed to our economy, so that businesses have the confidence to invest and families have the confidence to spend.”

According to Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, the government could give updates on a number of potential economic changes. These include reforms impacting ISA holders.

The government confirmed a record-breaking £30.4 billion budget surplus in January which was double the amount of 2025. Meanwhile, inflation has also dropped to 3%.

Mr Selby said: “Last year’s March update saw relatively few headline-grabbing measures, although the government set the scene for the package of ISA reforms eventually announced at the Budget, signalled a commitment to higher defence spending and made changes to the Making Tax Digital regime affecting landlords and sole traders. Meanwhile the OBR’s update revealed it had wiped £23 billion from the projected tax take on capital gains tax.”

Here are five potential money updates you could hear in the statement.

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Ms Reeves previously announced plans to cut the Cash ISA allowance from £20,000 to £12,000 for under 65s from April 2027. It’s hoped the move would encourage savers to invest in stocks and shares, which would boost the economy.

However, according to Mr Selby, there is “little evidence to suggest the plan will work”. He has advised the government to simplify the market to offer savers more flexibility.

He explained: “The key question for investors is how HMRC plans to treat cash and cash-like assets held within Stocks and Shares ISAs. The simple fact is that cash passes through Stocks and Shares ISAs all the time. Contributions are made in cash, dividends are received in cash, fees are paid in cash, and risk-based assets have to be sold to create the cash for withdrawals.”

He added: “The devil is in the detail and it remains to be seen exactly what approach government takes, but investors will be hoping that common sense prevails and government recognises it doesn’t need a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”

The Labour Party has committed to maintaining the state pension triple lock but rejected calls to introduce a pension tax lock. It would see the government freeze key pension tax rules, including protecting the 25% tax-free lump sum.

Mr Selby said: “To avoid another round of pension tax speculation ahead of the Autumn, Reeves could still use the Spring Statement to head things off at the pass with a commitment to pension tax certainty in the near term at the very least.

“Given that the government has tasked the Pensions Commission with examining the long-term future of pension provision across the UK, it isn’t unreasonable to ask Reeves to pledge not to make any decisions on pension taxation at least until the Commission concludes.”

He explained that committing to pension stability would encourage people to save for their retirement. If people are concerned about new income taxes on their savings, they are less likely to put cash away.

The government has already confirmed the Lifetime ISA will be replaced with a new first-time buyer ISA in April 2028. The new product will focus on home purchases rather than retirement savings.

Mr Selby said the Spring Statement is a chance for Ms Reeves to put some “meat on the bones” of the new scheme. He is hoping the Chancellor will offer a “roadmap” for the future of the Lifetime ISA once it is replaced.

The expert explained: “Crucially, the Treasury must consider the best interests of those who currently are investing in a Lifetime ISA when devising a plan. It must be a priority to make it easy for these people to continue to buy a house with their Lifetime ISA if they want, or to transfer their investment to the new ISA product without incurring an additional 6.25% charge on their savings.

“Likewise, those using a Lifetime ISA as part of their retirement plan will need proper reassurances about what’s going to happen to the accounts and must not be disadvantaged by the government’s decision to replace them.”

In November, Ms Reeves promised pensioners whose only income is the basic or new state pension do not pay income tax on it during this Parliament. Mr Selby is calling on the Chancellor to offer more information on the promise during her statement on Tuesday.

He said: “It was another announcement that came with little detail at the time and government will at some point need to confirm how it plans to implement the measure. Reeves may sniff an opportunity to talk-up the government’s continued commitment to the triple-lock, with the state pension set to rise almost 5% in April, so we could see some detail on the tax carve-out for those who rely solely on the state pension.”

During the Autumn Budget, the government confirmed that the repayment threshold for Plan 2 student loans will not increase with inflation. The threshold will be frozen at its April 2026 level before increasing each year from April 2030.

However, the move has sparked backlash and Sir Keir Starmer previously hinted at trying to make student loans fairer. Critics, including Martin Lewis, described the move as a “stealth tax” on graduates.

Mr Selby said: “But our estimates show that graduates could easily find themselves facing an additional £250 a year of payslip deductions by the time the threshold rises again in 2030.

“It’s unclear at this stage what government may do and whether it will impact plan 2 student loans or the other loans too. The levers they can pull would likely involve tweaking interest rates or repayment thresholds, or possibly a combination of the two.

“If that happens those with a student loan will be getting their calculators out to work out what impact it will have on their repayments and the lifetime cost of their student debt.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will also give an update on its economic forecasts. The forecast will give an indication on the financial situation of the Treasury which will inform the decisions taken at the next Budget.

Mr Selby said: “A weaker than expected forecast could trigger fresh speculation about future tax raids, although government will be very keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s Budget fiasco, when the chancellor briefed what appeared to be a dire economic warning to the media in order to lay the ground for a manifesto-breaking income tax hike.

“In the end it turned out to be a red herring, with the OBR document in the Autumn proving much less gloomy than many anticipated following Reeves’ remarks.”