Don't change inheritance tax relief for working farms
This petition gathered 154,005 signatures between 13 November 2024 and 13 May 2025, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 5 December 2024. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 10 February 2025.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Don't change inheritance tax relief for working farms
We think that changing inheritance tax relief for agricultural land will devastate farms nationwide, forcing families to sell land and assets just to stay on their property. We urge the government to keep the current exemptions for working farms.
We feel that passing farms through generations is essential to UK farming. Until now, inheritance tax exemptions have made this possible by allowing farmland to pass without taxation. We think that changes to inheritance tax will harm UK farming deeply, with some farmers predicting their families will be forced out within two generations.
We think the government is framing the policy around the targeting of rich landowners, but we believe this policy will affect farming families of all sizes.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 5 December 2024; the petitions site lists the HM Treasury as responsible. Its summary:
The Government’s commitment to farmers is steadfast. There is also an urgent need to repair the public finances in as fair a way as possible. The reform of the reliefs strikes the right balance.
The opening 379 words of the 811-word response:
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government took a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to restore economic stability, fix the public finances, and support public services. These were tough decisions given the situation inherited by the Government, but it has done so in a way that makes the tax system fairer and more sustainable.
Inheritance tax is paid on the estate (the property, money, and possessions) of someone who has died. The most recent four years’ worth of data show that amongst agricultural property relief claims, including those that also claimed business property relief, 47 per cent of the total Exchequer cost of the relief went to the top seven per cent of claims. It is not fair to maintain such a significant relief for a very small number of claimants, when this money could better be used to fund our public services.
That is why from 6 April 2026, the full 100 per cent relief from inheritance tax will be restricted to the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property. Above this amount, there will be 50 per cent relief so inheritance tax will be paid at a reduced effective rate up to 20 per cent, rather than the standard 40 per cent. The new system remains more generous than it has been in the past: the rate of relief prior to 1992 was a maximum of 50 per cent on all agricultural and business assets, including the first £1 million.
This is on top of the other exemptions and nil-rate bands that people can access for inheritance tax too. This means that a couple with farmland, depending on their circumstances, can typically pass on up to £3 million to their descendants without paying any inheritance tax.
Full exemptions for transfers between spouses and civil partners continue to apply. This means that any agricultural and business assets left to a spouse or civil partner will be tax free.
Any transfers to individuals more than 7 years before death as gifts will continue to fall fully outside the scope of inheritance tax. Any tax related to these assets can be paid in instalments over 10 years interest free and it means landowners will not necessarily need to sell land or other assets.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from South Shropshire, with 13.1 signatures per 1,000 electors (1,006 in all).
152,654 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,351 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Shropshire | 1,006 | 76,677 | 13.1 |
| North Herefordshire | 928 | 72,797 | 12.7 |
| Thirsk and Malton | 892 | 78,468 | 11.4 |
| Orkney and Shetland | 362 | 34,236 | 10.6 |
| Ceredigion Preseli | 795 | 75,690 | 10.5 |
| Penrith and Solway | 781 | 77,935 | 10.0 |
| North Cornwall | 759 | 76,741 | 9.9 |
| Torridge and Tavistock | 738 | 74,727 | 9.9 |
| Tiverton and Minehead | 685 | 72,087 | 9.5 |
| Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr | 697 | 74,039 | 9.4 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 23,423 |
| South West | 20,407 |
| East of England | 15,426 |
| North West | 15,131 |
| West Midlands | 14,439 |
| East Midlands | 13,454 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 12,333 |
| Wales | 9,181 |
| Scotland | 8,905 |
| London | 8,323 |
| North East | 5,781 |
| Northern Ireland | 3,550 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 10 February 2025. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700138.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
a1c54d4297d640d0… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.