The budget is the government’s yearly plan for spending and taxes across the UK.
In the days leading up to the statement, some measures from the yearly tax and spending plan had been announced and other factors were revealed by accident after The Office for Budget Responsibility released the official forecast more than half an hour early, which is now known as the organisation’s worst failure in 15 years.
This budget oversees tax rises, reduction of energy bills and the aim of reducing child poverty. This budget can affect students in many ways, and here’s why:
This budget oversees tax rises, reduction of energy bills and the aim of reducing child poverty.
One way in which the budget has an impact on students is through the introduction of maintenance grants.
This will be extra money for students from low-income families who study certain subjects full-time at university. This is a grant which you do not have to pay back and comes on top of your student loan.
Coming into place in 2028/29, this new grant will give students a better quality of life when living full-time at university.
The student loan repayment threshold is to be frozen from 2027-28.
With the threshold currently at £25,000 for students who started their degree in 2023 and after, workers who earn over this amount will have to pay more towards their student loan than you would have had the threshold continue to rise with inflation.
More positively, rail fares in England are to be frozen until March 2027, for the first time in 3 years. This means that you will not have to pay more money to get home or visit friends or family.
More positively, rail fares in England are to be frozen until March 2027...
Moreover, minimum wage is set to go up from April 2026.
Those who are aged 18-20 will see an 85p increase in their wage to £10.85 and over 21s will have a rise of 50p up to £12.71. And so, if you have a job at home or at university, you will earn a little bit more money.
Finally, if you drink at university, another budget measure which could impact you is the rise in alcohol duty.
On February 1st, 2026, there is to be a rise of 3.66% in alcohol duty which is in accordance with the Retail Price Index measure of inflation.
As a result of this, if the rise is fully passed onto consumers, a pint will cost an extra 2p and a glass of wine could cost an extra 3p.