Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12,570 to £20,000
This petition gathered 281,794 signatures between 20 December 2024 and 20 June 2025, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 20 February 2025. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 12 May 2025.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12,570 to £20,000
Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12570 to £20000. We think this would help low earners to get off benefits and allow pensioners a decent income.
We think it is abhorrent to tax pensioners on their state pension when it is over the personal allowance. We also think raising the personal allowance would lift many low earners out of benefits and inject more cash into the economy creating growth.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 20 February 2025; the petitions site lists the HM Treasury as responsible. Its summary:
The Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility.
The response in full:
The Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.
The Government has no plans to increase the Personal Allowance to £20,000. Increasing the Personal Allowance to £20,000 would come at a significant fiscal cost of many billions of pounds per annum. This would reduce tax receipts substantially, decreasing funds available for the UK’s hospitals, schools, and other essential public services that we all rely on. It would also undermine the work the Chancellor has done to restore fiscal responsibility and economic stability, which are critical to getting our economy growing and keeping taxes, inflation, and mortgages as low as possible.
The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way.
HM Treasury
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from Bridgwater, with 10.9 signatures per 1,000 electors (779 in all).
280,808 of the signatures were from the UK and 986 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgwater | 779 | 71,571 | 10.9 |
| Fylde | 766 | 77,100 | 9.9 |
| Hyndburn | 612 | 67,147 | 9.1 |
| South Ribble | 668 | 73,420 | 9.1 |
| Warrington North | 636 | 70,601 | 9.0 |
| Christchurch | 625 | 71,060 | 8.8 |
| Pendle and Clitheroe | 694 | 78,796 | 8.8 |
| Chorley | 646 | 74,801 | 8.6 |
| Sefton Central | 639 | 74,284 | 8.6 |
| South West Norfolk | 640 | 74,724 | 8.6 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 40,574 |
| North West | 36,984 |
| East of England | 28,667 |
| South West | 28,049 |
| London | 26,336 |
| West Midlands | 24,811 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 22,695 |
| East Midlands | 22,403 |
| Scotland | 17,987 |
| Wales | 14,490 |
| North East | 11,639 |
| Northern Ireland | 3,655 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 12 May 2025. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702844.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
bf7f87f88001a64f… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.