A pleasing end to the year for the longevity of our family farm

I hope everyone has managed to enjoy some time off over the festive period and has started 2026 happy, healthy, and full of optimism. I have started by writing this and have got the year right, so it is a good start. Thank you to everyone who has supported our farming business over the last year, whether that is staff, suppliers, customers, family or friends.

It was a very pleasing end to the year for the longevity of our family farm with the news that the government plans to change the 100% inheritance tax relief threshold from its original figure of £1 million up to £2.5 million of qualifying assets. I know it has been covered extensively since Christmas, but the importance of this change to so many people and businesses is genuinely massive.

We are being encouraged not to call it a u-turn, but more of an adjustment. The reality is that a proper consultation with a fair representation of the industry, right from the start of Labour’s time in office, could have produced an outcome like this without the loss of lives, time, money and votes that we have all witnessed.

A lot of working farmers did not have a huge issue with the principle. The point is that it has to land on those using qualifying assets purely to pass wealth on free of inheritance tax, not on those of us who have had the assets in the business for generations and need them to make a living. If the policy can be designed around active or working farmer identification, then there is a real incentive for better succession planning and further investment. It would also encourage ownership of qualifying assets sitting with the right people, in line with the work they actually put in.

We have spent around £15,000 so far on advice and structural changes, much of it driven by the original proposals. We are continuing with that plan despite the adjustment, and the fees will keep adding up, but it is an investment into the longevity of the business. My advice to anyone making similar changes, incorporation in particular, would be not to bin the progress you have made or file the plan away for a rainy day. Most of us in this position will gain other meaningful benefits from carrying on.

I also hope Labour are finally starting to see that tax reliefs for food producers in this country are an investment in the longevity of our food security.