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The government has confirmed that regulated rail fares in England will be frozen until March 2027. The freeze, announced prior to the Budget, follows a 4.6% rise in March 2025.
Regulated fares include most season tickets on commuter routes, some off-peak long-distance tickets and flexible city-travel products. The freeze applies only to services run by England-based train operating companies.
Unregulated fares can still be set independently by operators, although historically they have tended to move broadly in line with regulated fare changes.
The government said the freeze is intended to help limit inflation and ease pressure on everyday travel costs.
For regular business travellers and employers with staff travelling by rail, the freeze may provide a degree of cost certainty between now and 2027. The government estimates that passengers on the most expensive routes could save more than £300.
The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said that the announcement forms part of “wider plans to rebuild Great British Railways.”
See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-rail-freeze-in-30-years-to-ease-the-cost-of-living
Some self-employed taxpayers who filed their 2024/25 self-assessment tax return may have been incorrectly asked to pay class 2 national insurance contributions (NIC) on their SA302 tax calculation. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has now confirmed that this issue has been fixed.
For many sole traders and small business owners, reviewing their accounting system only happens when something forces the issue. For instance, many sole traders are currently looking at whether their accounting system meets the requirements for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
