The winners and losers of 2025 - in charts

Important information - the value of investments and the income from them, can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest.

2. Pensioners

Why:

• Pensioner incomes were boosted thanks to state pension increases under the triple lock. 
• Between 2024 and 2025, the full new state pension jumped by 4.1% and, from next April, it will rise again by 4.8%.  
• What’s more, the over-65s were exempt from the cash ISA allowance cut, which hit working-age savers. This will protect retirees with large cash piles. 
• The government abandoned rumoured plans to increase income tax while cutting National Insurance (NI) - a move that would have hurt pensioners, who are liable for income tax but not NI. 
• Read: State pension generosity compared: how does the UK measure up?

3. Hands-off investors

Why:

• Investors who panicked and sold out at moments of political or market volatility (such as President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs) would have missed out on major stock market returns. 
• By contrast, the winners were likely those who stayed the course, benefitting from the subsequent rebound. 
• Despite headline volatility, major indices posted healthy gains. The US stock market achieved total returns of 18% between January and early December. Closer to home, the FTSE All-Share rose by over a fifth. After years of underperformance, emerging markets have also staged a comeback. 
• Long-term, diversified investors captured this upside.

4. Gold investors

Why:

• Gold prices hit record highs in 2025 as ongoing geopolitical tensions and political uncertainty boosted demand for safe-haven assets.
• Falling interest rate expectations also increased the appeal of non-yielding assets like gold, and high levels of buying from central banks helped to propel prices further. 
• The gold price climbed by around 60% between January and early December, to well over $4,000 a troy ounce.

5. Minimum wage earners

Why:

• A large, above-inflation rise in the National Living Wage (NLW) helped offset cost-of-living pressures for those on low incomes.
• Those aged 21+ benefit from the NLW hike.

The losers

1. Savers

Why:

• Savers under the age of 65 were hit by the cut to the cash ISA allowance from £20,000 per year to £12,000. 
• The Autumn Budget also included a tax hike on savings outside of an ISA. The rates are now 22% for basic rate taxpayers, 42% for higher rate taxpayers and 47% for additional rate taxpayers.  
• At the same time, savings rates have fallen over 2025 following Bank of England rate cuts, ending the era of 5%+ easy access accounts. 
• Overall, savers are likely to be getting a lower return on their cash and face a higher risk of having to pay tax on it in future.

2. Landlords

Why:

• Landlords were hit hard in the Autumn Budget by increases to tax rates on property income. 
• From April 2027, owners of rental properties will face new income tax rates of 22%, 42% and 47% depending on their personal tax band. 
• They have also faced tightening regulation, with new compliance requirements and expanded local landlord licensing schemes. 
• On top of that, many will be preparing for new reporting requirements under the government’s Making Tax Digital push. 
• Buy-to-let owners selling properties in 2025 are likely to have faced higher capital gains tax bills, as the annual allowance as cut in 2024 from £6,000 to £3,000.

3. Company directors and dividend-reliant investors

Why:

• Both company directors who pay themselves in dividends and investors who rely on dividends from outside an ISA will be hit by changes in this year’s Autumn Budget. 
• From April 2026, the ordinary rate of tax on dividend income will rise from 8.75% to 10.75% and the upper rate will rise from 33.75% to 35.75%. The additional rate will remain unchanged at 39.35%.

4. The “squeezed middle” (£40k–£60k)

Why:

• Frozen tax thresholds are pushing millions more workers into higher tax bands.
• People whose salaries rise above £50,271 will find their tax rate jumps from 20% to 40%, while those whose income rises above £60,000 will start to lose child benefit. 
• Salary sacrifice changes to pensions will also disproportionately impact those earning less than £50,270. They will face NI on salary sacrifice pension contributions over the £2,000 cap of 8%, whereas those earning more will face NI of 2%. 
• Finally, rising rents and mortgage costs hit this group particularly hard relative to income.

5. HENRYs (High Earners Not Rich Yet)

Why:

• The government froze the additional-rate tax threshold at £125,140, meaning more HENRYs will be captured in its net. 
• The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that, by 2029-30, because tax thresholds remain frozen, there will be around 780,000 more basic-rate, 920,000 more higher-rate, and 4,000 more additional-rate taxpayers than its March 2025 forecast suggested.
• There was also no reform to the £100,000 personal allowance taper - which means the effective 60% marginal tax rate remains for those earning between £100,000 and £125,140. 
• Private school fee VAT changes may squeeze budgets further for parents in this bracket.

6. People with high property wealth

Why:

• Owners of expensive homes are being hit with a new ‘high-value council tax surcharge’. 
• It will apply from 2028 to homes worth more than £2m, with an annual charge of between £2,500 and £7,500.
• Some regions are also implementing extra surcharges on second homes and empty properties.¹

7. Renters

Why:

• Rents continued rising in 2025, tightening the squeeze on tenants. 
• Renters in England can expect to spend more than a third of their income on housing, according to the latest numbers from the Office for National Statistics.²  
• In London, the number is just over two-fifths of their income.

Source:

¹ Gov.uk, November 2024
² ONS, 18 August 2025

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