The savings gained from remortgaging could offset the increases to National Insurance (NI) proposed by the government, according to Habito.

Raising NI by 1.25% for employees could mean someone earning the average UK salary (£31,461) will be paying an extra £274 a year in taxes.

However, research from Habito has found that the average homeowner can save approximately £294 a month just by remortgaging from one of the big six UK lenders’ reversion rates or standard variable rate (SVR), equal to a saving of £3,528 across a year.

Habito’s UK-wide study of over 2,000 homeowners found that more than a quarter (27%) were on their lender’s highest possible rate of interest, while almost one in five (18%) did not know if they were or not, meaning the total figure could be 45%.

Rosie Fish, mortgage expert at Habito, said: “Unexpected tax increases can be stressful, especially in uncertain times.

“But there are ways you can cut your costs in other parts of your life – your mortgage being one of them.

“Remortgaging is often made unnecessarily confusing and should be viewed more like switching utility or broadband provider, but with a bigger potential return.

“If you’re not sure what mortgage rate you’re on or would like to know your options, speak to a free mortgage adviser.

“A mortgage switch could balance out those unexpected new tax bills, with extra savings to spare.”