NFU Cymru President urges PM to rethink Inheritance Tax reform as farmers face ‘distress and torment’
NFU Cymru President urges PM to rethink Inheritance Tax reform as farmers face ‘distress and torment’
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones has written a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, calling for urgent revisions to the UK Government’s proposed inheritance tax changes that he says are causing “huge anxiety” among Welsh farming families.
From April 2026, the proposed changes would cap 100% relief on agricultural and business property at £1 million, with only 50% relief on amounts above that threshold. Under the plan, both APR and Business Property Relief (BPR) would be counted together towards the cap.
Any tax can be paid in instalments over 10 years interest free rather than immediately, as with other types of inheritance tax. The changes take affect from April 2026, and the seven year gifting rule, a long standing feature of the IHT system, remains.
NFU Cymru has raised alarm over the implications for family-run farms, particularly for elderly farmers who may now face significant financial uncertainty.
“I am concerned that the number of farm businesses which stand to be impacted by this policy change will be far greater than Treasury predictions,” Jones wrote in his letter to 10 Downing Street. “What pains me more than anything is the sheer number of elderly farmers who, having worked hard all their lives, now find themselves tormented with the continual worry that their passing will create an unmanageable financial burden for their loved ones.”
Speaking from the Royal Welsh Showground, Jones said the issue has escalated rapidly since the UK Government’s Autumn Budget announcement, reversing an earlier Labour Party pledge not to alter APR. In 2023, Steve Reed MP, now the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, had stated: “We have no intention of changing APR.”
However, with changes now firmly on the table, the NFU Cymru President said hundreds of Welsh families have contacted the union, prompting him to act. His letter to the Prime Minister argues that many elderly farmers are being placed in an “invidious position” with little legal or financial recourse.
“Across our nation, there are countless examples of farmers in their twilight years having to deal with complex tax and legal considerations, at a time in life when even minor decisions can be a source of considerable apprehension,” Jones wrote. “For many of these people, either due to age or health issues, there is no recourse to insurance cover to meet tax liabilities.”
He continued: “I know that no government would want to place anyone in the difficult and invidious position that many elderly farmers now find themselves in. My view remains that an opportunity still exists for your government to mitigate very many of the human impacts of these policy proposals, whilst meeting the Government’s aim of raising revenue.”
In response, a government spokesperson said: “Our reforms to Agricultural and Business Property Relief are vital to fix the public services we all rely on. Three quarters of estates will continue to pay no inheritance tax at all, while the remaining quarter will pay half the inheritance tax that most people pay, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free.
“We’re investing billions of pounds in sustainable food production and nature’s recovery, slashing costs for food producers to export to the EU and have appointed former NFU president Baroness Minette Batters to advise on reforms to boost farmers profits.”
With less than nine months before the proposed changes come into effect, industry voices warn that without amendments, the reform could reshape the landscape for generational family farming across the UK.
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