Healey is set to U-turn on Rachel Reeves's cash Isa cut in his first Budget, keeping savers' £20,000 allowance
John Healey prepares for his Budget as UK gilt yields hit their highest level in the G7, with the Treasury having sold £4.5bn of five-year bonds at 5.036 per cent — the highest rate since 2008.A record 738,144 UK companies are in significant financial distress in Q3 2026, with construction and real estate among the worst-hit sectors ahead of John Healey's first Budget.
Chancellor John Healey is expected to announce in Wednesday's Budget that he will keep the cash Isa annual allowance at £20,000, ditching his predecessor Rachel Reeves's plan to cut it to £12,000 from April. The reversal is designed to protect building societies that rely on Isa deposits to fund mortgage lending, and to spare banks — already facing a temporary levy rise — a further hit to their deposit base. Industry experts have called Reeves's original reform a 'car crash' that would have added complexity for little consumer benefit.
Tom Selby of AJ Bell said Healey 'deserves credit for seeing this iceberg coming and taking abortive action'.
Banks and building societies welcome the move, but brokers are furious — they had pushed to abolish the cash Isa limit altogether to drive domestic investment.
Michael Healy of IG Consumer said the Chancellor has 'squandered a golden opportunity' to encourage Britons away from sitting on cash.
