Spring Budget 2026

The Chancellor’s spring budget will be available in March, the Finance Ministry said. Rachel Reeves will deliver the budget, known as the “Spring Forecast,” on March 3, 2026. It has asked the independent budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), to “prepare an economic and financial forecast” to be published the same day.

Background

The Treasury said the government was committed to only delivering one major budget event per year in the autumn budget. As a result, it said the spring forecast "will not assess the government’s performance in relation to the budget mandate and will instead provide an interim update on the economy and public finances." However, in last spring’s statement the Chancellor announced a series of welfare cuts, additional funding for training and defense in the construction sector and a crackdown on tax avoidance.

Expectations

The Spring 2026 statement is expected to be another major political event due to ongoing concerns about the state of the economy and controversy in the run-up to the November budget, when the Chancellor announced tax rises. The extension of the tax threshold freeze last month sparked accusations that the government had breached its election promise not to raise taxes on working people.

Previous Controversy

The Chancellor was also accused of failing to reveal the country’s true financial position in the run-up to the budget, after repeatedly warning of a downgrade in Britain’s economic productivity forecasts. On the day the budget was published, it emerged that the OBR had told the Chancellor in mid-September that public finances were in better shape than was generally believed. However, the Chancellor denied misleading the public.

Office for Budget Responsibility

All eyes will also be on the OBR during the spring forecast after it accidentally published details of the November Budget almost an hour before the Chancellor stood up to present it. The head of the OBR quit over the early release. An investigation found the cause was due to “leadership failures” in security measures rather than a malicious cyberattack. The Chancellor said she had been “open” in her decision-making and the OBR figures clearly showed there had been “less fiscal space than there was”.