{"id":266972,"date":"2026-01-27T19:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/266972\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:11:14","slug":"high-court-fast-tracks-judicial-review-into-inheritance-tax-relief-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/266972\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court fast-tracks judicial review into inheritance tax relief reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The High Court has granted an urgent hearing to a judicial review challenging the Government\u2019s proposed changes to inheritance tax reliefs for farms and family businesses, in a move that significantly raises the legal stakes around reforms currently passing through Parliament.<\/p>\n

\nThe claim, brought by Collyer Bristow LLP on behalf of professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal and claimants including Thomas Martin, George Martin and campaign group Farmers and Businesses for Fair Tax Relief, targets changes to Agricultural Property Relief<\/a> (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).<\/p>\n

Following what the court described as \u201cregrettable administrative delays\u201d in handling the case, the claimants sought judicial intervention to accelerate proceedings. On 19 January 2026, Mrs Justice Lang ordered that the case proceed to a rare \u201crolled-up\u201d hearing, covering both permission to bring the judicial review and the substantive merits of the claim.<\/p>\n

The two-day hearing will take place in February or March 2026, with the court recognising that the issues raised are time-critical and of significant public importance.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the challenge is the claimants\u2019 argument that the Government acted unlawfully by conducting only a limited technical consultation on a narrow aspect of the proposed APR and BPR reforms. They argue this fell short of established public law standards, particularly given the scale of the potential impact on farming families, business owners and the wider agricultural and commercial economy.<\/p>\n

The claimants say the lack of a full and meaningful consultation breached the Government\u2019s own consultation principles and denied affected taxpayers the opportunity to influence policy before it was finalised.<\/p>\n

Given the constitutional sensitivity of the issues, the Speaker of the House of Commons has been granted permission to intervene as an interested party. His counsel will assist the court on matters relating to parliamentary privilege, the separation of powers, and the appropriate use of parliamentary materials in judicial proceedings.<\/p>\n

James Austen, partner at Collyer Bristow with conduct of the claim, said the court\u2019s decision to expedite the case was highly unusual and reflected its importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling means a High Court judge will determine whether the Government acted unlawfully by introducing these changes without consulting taxpayers in line with its own policy,\u201d he said. \u201cRolled-up hearings are exceptionally rare, and for one to be listed so promptly underlines the seriousness of the issues at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marvin Rust, head of tax EMEA at Alvarez & Marsal, said the reforms created damaging uncertainty for family-owned enterprises<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestricting long-standing inheritance tax reliefs is a major policy shift,\u201d he said. \u201cIntroducing changes of this magnitude without proper consultation runs contrary to well-established principles. We welcome the court\u2019s decision to determine whether the process was lawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Martin, the lead claimant, said the case was about safeguarding due process rather than blocking parliamentary decision-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy choosing not to carry out a proper consultation, the Government denied farmers and business owners the chance to influence policy that could fundamentally affect their livelihoods,\u201d he said. \u201cThis case matters to everyone affected by the proposed tax changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the APR and BPR reforms are already being debated as part of the draft Finance Bill currently in Committee stage in the House of Commons, the court cannot order the Government to conduct a fresh consultation. The claimants are therefore seeking a declaration that the consultation carried out was unlawful.<\/p>\n

If the court agrees, such a declaration would not invalidate the legislation itself, but would formally recognise that the Government\u2019s process fell short of legal standards. While ministers would retain discretion over how to proceed, the ruling could increase political and legal pressure to revisit how the reforms are implemented.<\/p>\n

The High Court has issued detailed case management directions to ensure the case proceeds without further delay, setting the stage for one of the most significant legal challenges to recent inheritance tax reforms.<\/p>\n

\t \t\t\"Jamie \t \tJamie Young \t<\/p>\n

\t\tJamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
\nJamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.
\n
\nWhen not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders. \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The High Court has granted an urgent hearing to a judicial review challenging the Government\u2019s proposed changes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":{"0":"post-266972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}