From Tents to Tax: Why it’s important to start Estate Planning now

It has been reported that Michael Eavis, the founder of Glastonbury Festival, had, prior to the Autumn Budget last year, transferred and gifted his shares in the festival’s companies to his daughter and a family trust (potentially saving millions in inheritance tax (IHT)).  As you may recall from our article of 8 May (APR and BPR reform – Wansbroughs LLP) the Autumn Budget proposed significant changes to both agricultural property and business property reliefs from IHT. The changes are due to take effect from April 2026 but may also have a bearing on estate planning steps taken after last year’s Autumn Budget.

With no indication to the contrary, we must presume that these changes will go ahead from April 2026, as planned. This is despite recent and widely reported criticism, such as:

• the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee calling for a delay until April 2027, also highlighting that the changes were made without adequate consultation, impact or affordability assessments; and

• more recently, the filing of Judicial Review proceedings in the High Court on behalf of a group of affected farmers and business owners. The claim challenges HM Treasury and HMRC’s decision to proceed with the changes without prior consultation and suggests that the government has not met its public law obligations by allowing those affected to contribute to the development of the policy.

The government has begun to draft legislation to implement the upcoming changes, which we expect to see in late summer/autumn this year, although exactly when remains unclear. This should be accompanied by a technical consultation. However, if you are impacted by the forthcoming changes, do not wait for the final details to be confirmed before taking advice. As Michael Eavis has shown, taking good advice as early as possible is the key to effective estate planning.

If you would like to discuss the changes further, please contact our Private Client and Agricultural & Land Estates team at wealth@wansbroughs.com.