{"id":284784,"date":"2025-11-26T18:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/284784\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T18:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:08:12","slug":"inheritance-tax-change-announced-as-payments-will-be-exempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/284784\/","title":{"rendered":"Inheritance tax change announced as ‘payments will be exempt’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Reeves confirmed the news during her Budget speech on Wednesday lunchtime<\/p>\n

13:41, 26 Nov 2025Updated 15:03, 26 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"ChancellorChancellor Rachel Reeves giving her speech this lunchtime(Image: Parliament TV)<\/p>\n

All payments from the Infected Blood scheme will be exempt from inheritance tax, Rachel Reeves<\/a> said during her Budget<\/a> speech on Wednesday. The Chancellor also committed to transferring the Investment Reserve Fund of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme to its members.<\/p>\n

She told the Commons: \u201cI will not allow the legacies of Conservative neglect to stain our society. Last year, I made changes to the Mineworkers\u2019 Pension Scheme to ensure its members receive the fair pensions<\/a> they are owed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, and with thanks to the Minister for Pensions for all his work on this subject, I can go further. Today, I can announce that I will transfer the Investment Reserve Fund of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme to its members so that the women and men who worked in the coal industry\u2019s offices and canteens get a fair deal in their retirement too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chancellor added: \u201cI will exempt all payments from the Infected Blood scheme from inheritance tax regardless of the circumstances in which those payments are passed down to children. That is how we should be spending taxpayers\u2019 money; on dealing with injustices and on strong public services, not on waste and inefficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that the new \u00a31 million allowance for 100% inheritance tax relief on qualifying Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) assets, effective from April 6, 2026, would be transferable between spouses.<\/p>\n

David Chismon, Partner at Saffery, said: \u201cThe Chancellor announced in the Commons that she is going to make the \u00a31 million APR\/BPR allowance transferable between spouses. There has been persistent lobbying over the last 12 months to make this change and it is very welcome that the Government has finally decided to see sense. This will make the administration of estates much more straightforward, although many owners will have made changes to ownership over the last 12 months as the Government had originally refused to make the allowance transferable.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there were no other changes. Kevin Mountford, personal finance expert and co-founder at Raisin UK<\/a>, said: \u201cChoosing not to reform inheritance tax will bring relief for many families who were braced for change. But the underlying issue remains. Our research shows parents expect to leave an average of \u00a354,000, while their children anticipate receiving just \u00a349,000, and a quarter of adults still have no will.<\/p>\n

“With 69% believing the current system is unfair, planning is still essential. Review wills, discuss inheritance openly and ensure savings sit in tax-efficient accounts to protect family wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"bloodMPs had demanded that inheritance tax not be charged on blood scandal compensation for victims\u2019 families(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day farmers brought tractors to a Budget day protest against proposed inheritance tax changes despite a police ban on agricultural machinery in Westminster. The Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday evening conditions have been put in place to prevent people bringing vehicles including tractors and agricultural vehicles to the protest in Whitehall.<\/p>\n

But more than a dozen tractors could be seen parked outside Parliament on Wednesday morning, with rush-hour traffic brought to a standstill and farmers repeatedly sounding the tractor horns while police stood watching.<\/p>\n

David Gunn, an arable farmer and agricultural contractor from near Sevenoaks in Kent, said he was protesting on Budget day for a number of reasons, including the Government move to put inheritance tax on farm businesses worth more than \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cInheritance tax is one reason, it\u2019s going to cripple the farmers, the small family farmers. There\u2019s all the other taxes they\u2019ve been putting on us, and the prices we get for our produce and what it costs in the shop, we don\u2019t make any money. Then there\u2019s food security, farmers are going out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his message to Government was: \u201cSort the pledge out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice officers speak to farmers taking part in the protest(Image: Jordan Pettitt\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said in the manifesto you would look after the farmers, which you totally haven\u2019t, you\u2019ve ruined the countryside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tyler Carter, 18, from Peterborough, was also among the campaigners gathered in Trafalgar Square. He held a sign reading: \u201cDear London sorry \u2026 I\u2019m here to fight for my future!\u201d and told the PA news agency: \u201cWe\u2019re fighting for our livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what the reforms would mean for him, he said: \u201cIt means my dad will be out of a job, which means I will be out of a job. We have worked hard for what we\u2019ve got and don\u2019t deserve to have it taken off us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questioned on what he would say to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, he responded: \u201cHow dare you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another farmer attended the event dressed as Father Christmas<\/a>, with his tractor carrying a large spruce tree and bearing a sign that read: \u201cFarmer Christmas \u2013 the naughty list: Keir Starmer<\/a>, Rachel Reeves, David Lammy<\/a>, Diane Abbott<\/a>, Angela Rayner<\/a> & the BBC<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TractorsTractors appeared on Whitehall ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves\u2019s Budget speech(Image: Jordan Pettitt\/PA)<\/p>\n

In its Tuesday statement, the Met said the decision to ban agricultural machinery from Whitehall had been taken because of the \u201cserious disruption\u201d the vehicles may cause to the local area, including businesses, emergency services, and the public. Any individual taking part in the farmers\u2019 protest must remain in a specified area in Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, the force added.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s protest comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves faced pressure from farmers to axe plans to introduce inheritance tax on farming land and businesses. The Chancellor\u2019s plans to introduce a 20% rate on agricultural land and businesses worth more than \u00a31 million have become a political flashpoint for a sector struggling with rising costs, tough market conditions and worsening climate impacts.<\/p>\n

Last December, thousands of protesters gathered along Whitehall and angry farmers drove their tractors outside Parliament, demonstrating against the decision which farmers said put their businesses, futures and food security at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves confirmed the news during her Budget speech on Wednesday lunchtime 13:41, 26 Nov 2025Updated 15:03, 26…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,10429,4174,4175,69,21438,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-284784","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-inheritance-tax","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-personalfinance","13":"tag-rachel-reeves-mp","14":"tag-the-budget","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}