April 2026: A Line in the Sand for Family Businesses

Trevor Stevenson-Platt

24 Sep 2025 — 2 min read

History turns not on grand speeches but on the quiet stroke of a legislator’s pen. From 6 April 2026, the rules that once allowed British family businesses to pass unscathed from one generation to the next will alter in a way that demands immediate vigilance.

Under the old dispensation, Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) provided a broad shield. From next spring, that shield is narrowed:

Only the first £1 million of assets will remain fully protected.
Beyond that line, relief falls to 50%, with a tax bill to match.
AIM shares, once prized for their relief, are stripped of full protection.
Trusts, too, find themselves dragged into harsher rules and shared allowances.

The result is stark: fortunes that once passed freely may now be caught in the net of inheritance tax.

The Stakes

Imagine a business worth £5 million. Once, such an estate could have crossed the threshold intact. Under the new order, £2 million of it is exposed, enough to trigger a £400,000 bill. That is not a figure that can be shrugged off; it is the kind of sum that forces families to borrow, sell, or break apart what generations have built.

A Nation Unprepared

Research suggests seven in ten family owners have no succession plan. More than two-thirds have not even revised their wills. They are like travellers who, seeing storm clouds on the horizon, refuse to mend their sails. The law is changing, whether or not they choose to act.

The Call to Arms

The prudent course is plain:

Secure a valuation while time permits.
Set ownership in order.
Make transfers while reliefs endure.
Re-examine trusts and AIM holdings.
Prepare means: insurance, reserves, or finance, to meet any bill that remains.
Above all, bring wills and agreements into line with the new dispensation.

The Hour Strikes

This reform is not a technicality; it is a turning of the tide. There are but a few short months to act, and delay may prove fatal to a family’s legacy. The wise will treat April 2026 not as a distant date but as a line already drawn in the sand.

The question is not whether you will cross it, but how.

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