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PPM Financial Planning

Offering "No Tie" Independent Financial Advice. We regard ourselves as the GP's of financial services offering advice on all aspects of your finances.

Financial Planning for Business Owners, Business Leaders and Horse Racing Professionals
These are the areas we specialise in but we will sit down and create a plan with anyone who sees the value in planning for their future. As it is most peoples common goal to retire, it is this area where we specialise
providing bespoke individual retirement strategies that include pension, investment, business strategy planning, protection and savings advice.

09/07/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

What goes into the tax cocktail?

New data from HMRC shows how much the government relies on just four taxes.

The Labour Party went into the 2024 general election with pledges on four major taxes in its manifesto:

• “Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.”

• “Labour will cap corporation tax at the current level of 25 per cent, the lowest in the G7, for the entire parliament…”

At the time, the tax promises were seen as politically necessary to counter suggestions that a Keir Starmer government would operate tax-and-spend policies. However, the quadruple tax lock was widely criticised by many economists for the half decade constraint that it placed on the Chancellor in uncertain times.

Fast forward about two years from the publication of that manifesto, and the economists have been vindicated. New data from HMRC, published at the end of April, showed that in the past tax year, income tax, national insurance (NI), VAT and corporation tax accounted for 86% of all tax receipts. That is not surprising – as the graph shows, over the past ten years, the quartet account for more than £4 out of every £5 tax collected.

Despite the manifesto promise, income tax receipts rose by 9% in 2025/26 from the previous year – faster than the growth in prices or the UK economy. That outpacing is due to the freezing of the personal allowance and tax thresholds, dragging more people into tax and more existing taxpayers into higher tax bands.

NI receipts grew even faster – 16.3% up – thanks to the manifesto-challenging changes to the level of employer’s NI contributions. Together, NI and income tax – the two taxes on earnings – accounted for 56.5% of all that flowed into HMRC’s coffers.

The jumps in taxes on earnings contrasted with the growth in the third largest source of tax, VAT, which grew by 5.7%. Corporation tax had even slower growth (4.6%), but that might be because employers claimed more tax relief on those higher NI contributions.

The dominance of the big four manifesto-locked taxes explains why the Chancellor has made so many tweaks to the overall system to raise additional revenue. Be prepared: it is beginning to look like that process will be repeated at the next Budget.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

07/07/2026

Happy Birthday to our Financial Planner Stuart Ashton.

02/07/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

A new initiative for dealing with unclaimed Child Trust Funds

The Treasury has announced a new campaign aimed at reducing the number of unclaimed Child Trust Funds.

On 4 July 2026, the US government will officially launch Trump Accounts. While not another White House-linked cryptocurrency ‘investment’, these are new savings plans for children born between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2028 – roughly covering Trump’s second term. The US government will be placing $1,000 (about £750) into each account. Parents and other contributors can add up to $5,000 (£3,750) per year until the plan matures on the child’s 18th birthday.

If that structure sounds eerily familiar, that is because it has echoes of the UK’s Child Trust Funds (CTFs), which were established for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Over the period of the scheme, the UK government paid £2 billion into accounts for 6.3 million children, with most of them receiving a single payment of £250. More than one-in-four CTFs were opened by HMRC under a default process after parents or guardians failed to act within a year of the child becoming eligible.

The designers of the Trump Accounts have learned from the take-up problems of the CTF: Trump Accounts must be opened by parents, legal guardians, adult siblings or grandparents using an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form. In the year the child reaches 18, their Trump Account automatically becomes an Individual Retirement Account (similar to a UK personal pension).

This maturity treatment is another learning point from UK experience. When CTFs were launched, there were no plans for what would happen at age 18; these were developed on a somewhat ad hoc basis shortly before the first CTFs matured in 2020. Matured CTFs that were not claimed continued in a post-CTF limbo with the same tax benefits until they were claimed or transferred into an ISA.

The latest report from HMRC shows that as of 5 April 2025, there were over 750,000 unclaimed matured CTFs. The Treasury has now decided to write to all 21-year-olds with unclaimed CTFs “in a bid to reunite account holders with their accounts”.

If you want to track down a CTF now, the starting point is the HMRC locator tool, which gives the name of the CTF provider, but not its value.

Investing in shares should be regarded as a long-term investment and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.

The value of the investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise and investors may not get back what they originally invested, even taking into account the tax benefits.

Investors do not pay any personal tax on income or gains, but ISAs may pay unrecoverable tax on income from stocks and shares received by the ISA managers.

Stocks and Shares ISAs invest in corporate bonds, stocks and shares and other assets that fluctuate in value.

01/07/2026

Village Magazine July Edition

25/06/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Making Tax Digital is slow to attract taxpayers

HMRC has reported a low initial registration level for its new income tax regime.
A little over 11 years after ‘Making Tax Easier’ was first announced in the March 2015 Budget, Making Tax Digital for income tax self assessment (MTD for ITSA) went live on 6 April 2026. The subtle rebranding along the way – replacing ‘easier’ with ‘digital’ – hints at the struggles to develop the system.

The 2015 Budget Red Book said, “…the government will transform the tax system over the next Parliament by introducing digital tax accounts, removing the need for annual tax returns. By the end of the next Parliament [2020], over 50 million individuals and small businesses will be able to see and manage their tax affairs online”. It has not worked out that way and, alas, annual tax returns are still with us.

As a reminder, the first group of taxpayers who were meant to have registered with HMRC for MTD before 6 April 2026 were people personally registered for self assessment who:
• received income from self-employment and/or property (or both), and
• had qualifying income (basically gross income from self-employment and/or property) of more than £50,000 in 2024/25.

HMRC estimated that 864,000 people would fall into this initial wave, all of whom are required to deliver their first quarterly update of income and expenses to HMRC via HMRC-approved MTD software by 7 August 2026. Thereafter, further quarterly updates must be submitted by the 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, with a final tax return (under MTD) by the following 31 January.

According to HMRC, a week after the start of MTD, registrations numbered 250,000, nearly 170,000 of which were from tax agents and accountancy firms. Only 80,000 came from individuals. As the professionals would most likely comply with 6 April deadline, those numbers suggest that around 614,000 individuals failed to register on time.

Perhaps in anticipation of a slow take-up, last November the Chancellor announced that in 2026/27 there would be no penalties for filing overdue quarterly updates. However, penalties will still apply for the final (unabolished) tax return and, under the MTD process, this can only be filed after all quarterly updates have been submitted.

Successive governments may have taken over a decade to introduce MTD, but if you are within its scope and have not registered, you do not have the option to procrastinate.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

18/06/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Where is your emergency cash?

Do you have a rainy day fund? Think again, if you don’t – where you hold your cash matters.

A common piece of basic financial advice is that you should have enough of a cash reserve to cover at least three months’ (and ideally up to six) of your essential regular outgoings. That means expenses like your mortgage or rent, food, council tax and utility bills: it does not include the nice-to-haves. Nevertheless, the sum involved can easily run to five figures, especially if you are aiming for the half year yardstick.

Rainy day money needs to be available quickly – in practice it may be required to cover one sudden big bill. It should be placed somewhere that offers instant access, with no penalties or risk of capital loss. Rainy day money is thus about cash savings not investment. Two obvious options are:

• Easy access accounts. There are hundreds of instant access accounts available, ranging from those which can only be opened and managed via a mobile to the traditional High Street account. The best interest rates – over 4% at the time of writing – are to be found from the smaller deposit takers. Their names may be unfamiliar, but provided the institution is a UK institution covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), your deposit is protected up to £120,000 (£240,000 for joint accounts). The one point to watch: that FSCS cover is per banking license, and some banks have multiple brands (e.g., Lloyds Bank’s license also covers Halifax).

• Cash ISAs. Cash independent savings accounts (ISAs) will be subject to new restrictions for the under-65s from next April, but in 2026/27, you can still place up to £20,000 in a cash ISA. The ISA framework means no tax on the interest, although the personal savings allowance (£1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and £500 for higher rate taxpayers) means your interest on non-ISA deposits may also be tax-free. ISAs cannot be jointly held, which is a drawback for couples. For them, joint rainy day accounts make more sense so that either can have access.

You should regularly review your cash reserves to check you are earning a competitive interest rate and have the right level of reserve. Excess rainy day money could be an investment opportunity missed.

The value of your investment and any income from it can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested.

11/06/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

Student loans – of little interest?

The government has announced an interest rate cap for some student loans. It is not all it seems.

Following Easter, the Department for Education (DfE) announced a 6% interest rate cap on Plan 2 (and 3) student loans. The DfE press release read “Interest rate cap introduced to protect Plan 2 borrowers”.

This was a somewhat creative interpretation. To see why, you need to delve into the arcane world of Plan 2 student loans, which were made for undergraduate courses starting between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023 in England, and are still being made in Wales. The loan ‘interest’ charged is linked to retail price index (RPI) inflation in March of each year, applied from the subsequent 1 September:

• Until the April after graduation, interest is charged at RPI +3%, meaning that at present it is 6.2% as the March 2025 RPI was 3.2%.

• For graduates – the vast bulk of Plan 2 borrowers now – the interest rate varies between RPI and RPI + 3%, based on income. In 2026/27, RPI is charged for graduates with income up to £29,385 and RPI + 3% applies if income is £52,885 or more.

The interest rate has no bearing on how much a graduate pays, only on how long they must make payments (subject to a maximum of 30 years, after which any outstanding debt is written off). The payment level is 9% of income over £29,385, a figure that the last Budget froze until April 2030.

The DfE made its announcement ahead of the RPI figure for March 2026, which was expected to jump from February’s 3.0% due to the war in Iran. There was already growing criticism of the Budget repayment threshold freeze, so to avoid further discontent at rising interest costs, the DfE rolled out a 6% interest cap (for one year only).

The March RPI turned out to be 3.3%, which means the minimum interest rate will be 3.3% and the maximum 6%. The sliding scale interest rate calculation means that only graduates with incomes above £50,535, and those few still studying, will benefit from the cap.

With over £260 billion of outstanding student debt, the hard financial truth is that your student loan is another area of your finances where you cannot look to the state for much support.

09/06/2026

Happy Birthday to our Financial Planner Anil Choudhry.

04/06/2026

PPM's 6️⃣0️⃣ Second Read!

The ‘mansion tax’ and property prices – what’s to come?

Further details have emerged about the potential impact of the ‘mansion tax’ announced in the last Budget.

Rachel Reeves’ first two Budgets have so far featured announcements of tax-raising measures with delayed starting dates. For example, the controversial changes to inheritance tax (IHT) business and agricultural relief emerged in October 2024 but have only just taken effect. Similarly, bringing pensions within the scope of IHT was announced at the same time, but will not commence until 6 April 2027.

In her Autumn 2025 Budget, she set out plans for a High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS – aka ‘mansion tax’) on homes valued at £2 million and above, to start in April 2028. There was little detail about the measure, but a consultation was promised “in the New Year”. So far, nothing has been published by the Treasury, but just before Easter, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) set out its assessment of the new tax’s impact. These included some interesting nuggets:

• By 2028, the OBR thought the full value of the future HVCTS liability would be reflected in property prices. Although the OBR did not spell out the numbers, what this means in practice is that for every £1,000 of consumer price index (CPI)-linked HVCTS annual charge, the OBR expects a property’s value to drop by about £35,000. For the lowest £2,500 charge covering properties valued at £2–2.5 million, their value would drop by about £87,500, according to OBR theory.

• The OBR forecasts that there will be a bunching of prices just below each threshold, which would further lower prices for properties that would otherwise be just above a threshold. The OBR is on solid ground with this assumption, as it is exactly what happened when a single stamp duty rate was based on a house’s price.

Property value in 2026 HVCTS in 2028/29

£2m to £2.5m £2,500
£2.5m to £3.5m £3,500
£3.5m to £5m £5,000
£5m + £7,500

• One-in-five property owners (who are liable to the tax, rather than the occupiers) are expected to lodge an appeal, with a 40% success rate.

Perhaps the most telling point is that the new tax would initially raise only £400 million in 2028/29, hardly even a rounding error in Treasury accounting terms. Almost the same sum could have been generated by raising the standard rate of VAT from 20% to 20.04%, although the politics would have been much trickier.

We’ll have to wait and see if the OBR’s expectations pan out.

Tax treatment varies according to individual circumstances and is subject to change.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.

01/06/2026

Village Magazine June Edition

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