January 2026
Statement following the Government announcement on IHT on 23 December 2025:
The recent change to the level of the Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief thresholds will help a small number of farmers, particularly in locations where land values are lower. However, it does not alter the core flaw in the imposition of IHT on working farms – namely that it still treats active working farmers, with incomes similar to the average UK household, for IHT purposes as multimillionaires.
Whilst HM Government has acknowledged that the original policy plan was unpopular and unfair, there is still an opportunity to address its flaws properly: by differentiating between the critical work of farmers and those who are trying to get out of paying their fair share of IHT.
Crucially, the recent announcement has exacerbated the opportunity for wealthy and passive investors – including overseas entities – who buy farmland to shelter wealth from IHT while still targeting active farmers, for whom an IHT bill at current calculations will mean the end of farming, for too little tax gain.
The policy not only ignores the challenge of inflated land values exacerbating the ‘asset-rich-cash-poor’ nature of active farming businesses, it also does not fundamentally address the injustice of aligning those who work the land with those who bought it as a tax avoidance tool, while their options to guard against or meet unexpected tax bills could not be more different.
Other farming and countryside groups have now wound down their campaign on this issue or do not support the CenTax (Centre for Analysis of Taxation) Minimum Share Rule proposal as the primary existing solution to this challenge - Fairer Family Farming remains active. It is now the only dedicated campaign focussed on urging HM Government to implement the CenTax proposal.
Note: Fairer Family Farming has no affiliation with CenTax, which is an independent research centre.
About the Fairer Family Farming campaign
This is the only campaign dedicated to urging the government to adopt a fairer, better system for taxation through implementing the CenTax proposals of the Minimum Share Rule. This will ensure greater returns for HM Treasury while protecting active working farms.
Fairer Family Farming is a grassroots campaign, organised by a coalition of working family farmers and is led by David Passmore, Robin Hart OBE and Phil Merson . All three are long-time family farmers with the convening power to tell the story of how current proposals are neither fair nor sustainable and who wanted to promote a better alternative.