Reform UK has announced plans to increase the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 within the first 100 days of winning the next general election. Robert Jenrick, who would serve as Chancellor in a Reform government, stated the proposal aims to ease the financial burden on millions of individuals.

The personal allowance, the amount individuals can earn before paying income tax, has remained frozen at £12,570 since 2021. Current government projections indicate this freeze will continue until 2031. Reform UK estimates that raising the allowance to £15,000 would provide an annual saving of approximately £500 for the majority of taxpayers, potentially benefiting around 40 million people. The party also stated that this change would remove 2.9 million individuals from paying income tax and ensure the state pension remains untaxed.

This policy is framed as a response to 'fiscal drag,' a phenomenon where frozen tax thresholds pull more people into the tax system due to inflation and wage growth. Reform UK argues that the freeze, implemented under both Labour and Conservative administrations, has effectively lowered the personal allowance by £3,500 compared to what it would be if adjusted for earnings growth. Jenrick is expected to state in a speech that the current economic climate makes it a particularly difficult time for workers in Britain.

Reform UK projects the cost of this tax cut to the Treasury to be £17.7 billion in the first year, rising to £21 billion by the fifth year of a potential new parliament. The party intends to fund this measure through an estimated £80 billion in government spending reductions, including cuts to welfare, Net Zero initiatives, and the foreign aid budget.

Jenrick plans to challenge Prime Minister Andy Burnham to match Reform's pledge, framing the decision as a choice between public spending on welfare, foreign aid, and migrants, or supporting British workers. The party's long-term ambition, as stated in a previous election, is to raise the tax-free allowance to £20,000, a goal they aim to achieve incrementally when fiscally possible.

The announcement comes as the party works to manage its public image following a donations controversy at its conference. Two senior party aides have been suspended amid allegations of discussing how to disguise foreign donations, leading to internal investigations and conflicting statements regarding the permanence of their suspension.