Record January IPT income brings receipts to £7.7bn

HMRC has revealed insurance premium tax (IPT) receipts totalling £872m for January of this year, a record figure for the month.

The number now means that the total IPT collected across the first 10 months of the financial year has reached £7.7bn.

That is £134m higher than the total for the same 10-month period in the 2024/25 financial year, when tax income reached £7.56bn.

That year, IPT reached a record annual total of £8.88bn, a figure which is set to be narrowly broken, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting a yearly sum of £8.97bn in its Autumn Budget forecast.

The OBR also predicted IPT receipts to cross £10bn for the first time in the 2030/31 financial year.

Premium inflation

Cormac Bradley, senior actuarial director at financial consultancy Broadstone, said: “January’s record IPT receipts highlight just how much insurance costs have risen in recent years. With £7.7bn already collected and two months of the financial year still to run, another annual high now looks all but certain.

“IPT has increasingly benefited from premium inflation and has become a significant source of revenue for the Treasury. As pricing pressures begin to stabilise, it is important that policymakers remain mindful of the impact the tax has on the affordability and accessibility of essential insurance cover.

“Insurance plays a critical role in underpinning economic activity – protecting households, supporting businesses and enabling investment. Any future decisions on IPT should carefully balance fiscal objectives with the need to maintain adequate levels of protection across the economy.”