The government has announced a further increase in the rate of the personal allowance, the amount that any individual can earn before having to pay tax on their earnings. The personal allowance will increase to £10,500 per annum with effect from April 2015, an increase of £500 from the rate of £10,000 per annum which comes into effect on 6 April 2014.

In addition to this, as previously reported, couples will be able to transfer £1,000 of their personal allowance to a spouse if they do not use it all, thus giving another possible saving of £200 a year to couples.