Farmer Focus: Relief at inheritance tax ‘adjustment’

I hope everyone managed to enjoy some time off over the festive period and has begun 2026 happy, healthy and full of optimism. I’ve got the year right, so it’s a good start!

Thanks to all who supported our farming business during 2025, whether that be staff, suppliers, customers, family or friends.

See also: Farm succession: how to plan for future control and ownership

About the author

Jack Bosworth

Livestock Farmer Focus writer Essex pig farmer Jack Bosworth farms 263ha of arable and a 540-sow farrow-to-finish operation in partnership with his family. About 60% of pigs are finished at home and 150 are sent to a farm in Norfolk to finish on a bed and breakfast contract.

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It was a very pleasing end to the year in terms of the longevity of our family farm, with the news of the government’s plan to change the 100% inheritance tax relief threshold from their original figure of £1m to £2.5m of qualifying assets.

I know this will have been highlighted a lot since Christmas, but its importance to so many people and businesses is massive.

We are being encouraged to call the change an adjustment rather than a U-turn.

The reality is that a consultation with a fair representation of the industry, from the very beginning of Labour’s time in office, could have resulted in something like this without the loss of lives, time, money and votes.

I do think many working farmers didn’t have a huge issue with the principle of the idea, if it was implemented to hit those using qualifying assets purely to pass money on free of inheritance tax, not those of us who have had the assets in the business for generations and who need the resources to make a living.

Then there could be more incentive for better succession planning, plus further investment if greater reliefs could be achieved through active/working farmer identification.

This would also hopefully encourage ownership of qualifying assets by the right person(s), according to the work they put in.

We have spent about £15,000 so far, taking advice and making changes that were largely driven by the original proposals. We will continue to follow that plan, despite the “adjustment”.

The fees will mount up, but it is an investment in the future of the business.

I hope others who are making similar changes to us (such as incorporation) won’t just bin the progress they have made or put the plan in the filing cabinet for a rainy day, as they will be likely to gain other important benefits.

I also hope the government is finally starting to see that the tax reliefs for food producers in this country are an investment in our long-term food security.