The House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee has today published its report into the Finance Bill 2025–26, Inheritance tax measures: unused pension funds and agricultural and business property reliefs.
TISA provided oral evidence last November to the House of Lords Finance Bill sub-committee on the challenges and issues of pensions becoming part of the IHT framework. During the hearing, Renny Biggens, Head of Policy: Products & Long-Term Savings at TISA raised key challenges, with a particular focus on consumer/beneficiary outcomes
The link to the final report is here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldeconaf/250/250.pdf
Commenting on the report, Renny said:
“We are pleased to see this detailed report on proposed Inheritance Tax measures for pension funds which and acknowledges that the proposals were made without proper industry consultation.
The pension death claim process differs from the treatment of other assets subject to Inheritance Tax, and we fully support the recommendation to extend the payment deadline from 6 to 12 months. Shoe-horning pensions into Inheritance Tax creates considerable complexity, particularly for lay personal representatives who will have little knowledge or experience in these matters. The process will delay payments from pension schemes to beneficiaries in many instances and create additional complexities for them at a vulnerable time in their lives.
Raising awareness of the reforms and easy access to support are essential to help everyone navigate the process. Monitoring scam activity needs to be prioritised, as unscrupulous individuals may be looking to take advantage and gain access to the deceased’s financial affairs by offering supposed free guidance to support people through the journey. Ongoing monitoring will be needed to understand the impact this is having on PRs, pension schemes and beneficiaries, as well as identifying the longer-term impact this has on pension saving and withdrawal behaviour.”
Further details on the inquiry can be found here:
3 November 2025 – Draft Finance Bill 2025–26 – Oral evidence – Committees – UK Parliament
Finance Bill 2025–26, Inheritance tax measures: unused pension funds and agricultural and business property reliefs: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldeconaf/250/250.pdf