Just before Christmas, the Government finally bowed to reality and moved the dial on APR and BPR, lifting the Inheritance Tax threshold on farms and small family businesses from £1,000,000 to £2,500,000 per spouse.
For farming families like my own, that is definitely some progress.
It recognises, at least in part, that modern farms are asset-rich, cash-poor businesses, that should not be penalised simply because land values have risen on paper.
But for farming families this concession does not go nearly far enough.
Family farms are long-term, generational businesses. They are not tax planning vehicles.
If the Government genuinely wants to support British agriculture, rural communities and our dwindling national food security, it must go further and provide certainty, simplicity and fairness, not half-measures that still leave too many families exposed.
And the support farmer’s desperately need cannot stop at the IHT threshold.
Farmers are currently being buried under layers of regulation and red tape in the name of standards, sustainability and compliance, while at the same time we are quite happy to import food from overseas producers who do not play by those same rules.
That is not environmental leadership; it is hypocrisy. It undermines British farmers and exports our values along with our food production.
To have the confidence to invest in a sustainable future for our vital agricultural economy, farmers need a tax system that allows succession without fear; they need regulation that is proportionate and practical; they need a level playing field on food standards, and they need a Government that backs those who actually produce the nation’s food.
Our team here at H&H Land & Estates, many who are from farming families themselves, will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers, helping them plan, protect and future-proof their businesses, while calling out policy that sounds good in Westminster but doesn’t work in our farmers’ fields.
Progress is welcome, but British farming deserves proper backing, not political soundbites.
