UK nationals in Cayman will pay £19.05 a week from April 2027 per State Pension year.

The figure was published by HM Revenue and Customs alongside Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey's first Budget on 28 October 2026. It is the voluntary Class 3 National Insurance rate for the 2027-28 tax year, up from £18.40 now. In the Commons, Healey said the government was "clamping down on those living abroad from accessing a UK State Pension on the cheap".

The Budget contains no measure aimed at Cayman or any Overseas Territory. Neither the speech nor the 166-page Budget report mentions them. Its reach into Cayman is indirect: through UK citizens who live here, through residents who own property or hold savings in the UK, and through tax changes that touch offshore structures. The largest single revenue measure, a doubling of the surcharge on bank profits, falls on UK banking groups.

The pension line is the one that lands on individuals. Until April 2026, a UK national working abroad could keep adding to their State Pension record by paying voluntary Class 2 contributions, £3.50 a week in 2025-26. That route closed on 6 April 2026 under a measure announced in the 2025 Budget. A government policy paper of 16 March 2026 said about 46,000 people were paying Class 2 from abroad and would lose the option, and that Class 3 cost £767 a year more.

The 2027-28 rate takes the annual cost of one qualifying year to £990.60. The same person paid £182 for 2025-26. The minimum UK connection needed to pay voluntary contributions from abroad also rose in April from three years to ten.

Healey raised it in the welfare section of his speech. "We're reforming Motability and we're clamping down on those living abroad from accessing a UK State Pension on the cheap," he said. The Budget report adds that the Department for Work and Pensions will be given more capacity "to identify cases where customers remain abroad longer than benefit rules allow".

For Cayman residents with UK property or UK savings, the rate rises announced in the 2025 Budget are being doubled. Income tax on property income and on savings income will go up by a further two percentage points from 6 April 2027, on top of the two points already legislated. The Budget report puts the property basic rate at 24%, the higher rate at 44% and the additional rate at 49% from that date. The savings rates are the same. The property rates apply to income from property in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the savings rates apply across the UK.

The Treasury says 84% of income tax payers will not be affected. It expects the two measures to raise £1.1 billion in 2028-29.

Healey said he had kept the manifesto promise not to raise tax on working people. "Raising revenue from those who can afford to pay," he said. "No tax rises on wages or dividends."

Banks pay for the energy help

The Budget's biggest tax rise is on banks. The Bank Corporation Tax Surcharge rises from 3% to 6% for 15 months, from 1 January 2027 to 31 March 2028. The Treasury's costing is £305 million this year, £950 million in 2027-28 and £220 million in 2028-29.

"Banks will pay an extra 3% on the Bank Surcharge," Healey said. "This will be time limited, to pay for immediate support on energy bills." The money funds a £100 payment to 20 million households in England in council tax bands A to D, costed at £2.6 billion.

Three items for Cayman's financial industry

Three smaller measures touch the structures Cayman's financial services industry works with.

The first took effect today. The Budget report says the government is "making minor technical changes to the rules that apply to gains made by non-resident close companies that are attributed to UK resident individuals, trusts and companies". HMRC's overview document is more specific: the rules are being amended "to ensure that they apply to protected cell companies". The change applies from 28 October 2026. Neither document names a jurisdiction or defines the term.

The second is a consultation "later this year" on reform of the offshore penalties framework, the system of higher penalties for UK tax lost through income or assets held outside the UK. No detail was published today.

The third is a new statutory tax regime for foreign sovereigns investing in the UK, from 1 January 2029. The Treasury says it will bring "certain real estate income and gains into UK tax" while giving sovereign funds bespoke access to Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Alongside these, HMRC gets 670 more compliance officers, a published plan for the compliance of wealthy taxpayers, and the power to recover lower-value tax debts directly from bank accounts from July 2029.

Air Passenger Duty, paid by anyone flying out of a UK airport, will rise with the Retail Prices Index from 1 April 2028.

The numbers behind it

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast UK growth of 1.2% this year, 1% next year and 1.6% in 2028. Borrowing is forecast at 4.2% of GDP this year, falling to 1.8% by 2030-31. Debt is 83.2% of GDP.

Healey said the war in the Middle East had driven oil from around US$70 a barrel to over US$100 and nearly tripled gas prices since February. The OBR expects the UK to spend £14 billion more on debt interest this year as a result. Headroom against the government's stability rule is £15 billion in 2029-30.

The Budget report says the fiscal tests for restoring overseas aid to 0.7% of national income "are not due to be met within the Parliament".

Opposition: "overspent and overtaxed"

Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Opposition and Conservative Party leader, gave the traditional reply. ITV News reported that she told the Commons the UK is "overspent and overtaxed".

The Budget debate runs until Tuesday 3 November, when MPs are asked to approve the Budget resolutions. A Finance Bill follows.

What happens next

The Class 3 rate for 2027-28 will be set by secondary legislation in early 2027. The savings and property rates and the bank surcharge go into Finance Bill 2026-27. The protected cell company change is already in effect. The offshore penalties consultation has no published date beyond "later this year".

The Cayman Islands Government had not commented on the Budget at the time of publication.