What Could the Autumn Budget Mean for Private Clients?
Hoxton Blog • What Could the Autumn Budget Mean for Private Clients?
Sensible pre-Budget planning without trying to predict the future
As another Autumn Budget approaches, speculation about possible tax changes is inevitably increasing. For private clients, this can create a difficult question, should you take action before the Budget, or wait until the Chancellor has spoken?
Our view is that good tax planning should rarely be driven by headlines or predictions about what a Chancellor may or may not announce. Making significant financial decisions simply because a tax rate might change can create unintended consequences and, in some cases, result in a worse overall position.
However, that does not mean doing nothing.
The weeks before a Budget can be a useful opportunity to review existing arrangements, identify decisions that are already under consideration and understand whether there is any reason to bring those decisions forward.
The Autumn Budget will take place on 28 October 2026, against a backdrop of continued pressure on the public finances and an emphasis from the Government on maintaining fiscal discipline.
Rather than trying to predict precisely what might change, there are several areas you may sensibly want to review now.
1. Review your inheritance tax position
Inheritance tax remains one of the most important areas of long-term planning for many families.
The starting point should not be predicting whether the Chancellor will change inheritance tax rates or allowances. Instead, families should understand what their position looks like under the rules as they currently stand.
- the current value and composition of the estate;
- existing lifetime gifts;
- wills and succession arrangements;
- the availability of inheritance tax exemptions and reliefs;
- business and agricultural assets;
- pension wealth;
- life assurance arrangements; and
- whether existing structures remain appropriate.
This is particularly relevant because the inheritance tax landscape is already changing.
Changes applying from April 2026 have altered the operation of Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, including a limit on the value of qualifying property that can receive 100% relief.
Further change is already legislated for April 2027, when most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be brought within the inheritance tax estate.
These changes mean that an inheritance tax plan prepared several years ago may no longer produce the outcome originally intended.
For some families, the most valuable pre-Budget exercise may therefore simply be to revisit the numbers.
2. Review significant disposals
Anyone already considering selling a business, investment portfolio, property or other valuable asset may want to review the tax position before the Budget.
For the 2026/27 tax year, the main rates of capital gains tax for individuals are currently 18% and 24%, depending on the individual's circumstances, with the annual exempt amount remaining at £3,000. The Business Asset Disposal Relief rate is now 18% on qualifying disposals.
It would not normally make sense to sell a good investment simply because tax rates might change.
Where a disposal is going to happen anyway, however, timing can become much more important.
If a sale, restructuring or transfer is already being negotiated, it may therefore be sensible to understand:
- the current tax cost;
- what reliefs may be available;
- when the disposal is treated as taking place for tax purposes;
- whether losses can be utilised;
- the interaction with other income and gains; and
- whether there are commercial reasons for completing before or after the Budget.
The important point is to understand the options in advance rather than trying to restructure a transaction at short notice following an announcement.
3. Look again at pensions as part of estate planning
For many years, pensions have played an important role not only in retirement planning but also in inheritance tax planning. That position is changing.
From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits are due to form part of an individual's estate for inheritance tax purposes.
For clients with substantial pension funds, this makes it increasingly important to consider pensions alongside the rest of the estate rather than viewing them in isolation.
That could mean revisiting questions such as:
- which assets should fund retirement expenditure;
- whether pension withdrawals should form part of the strategy;
- who should ultimately inherit pension and non-pension assets;
- whether wills and expression-of-wish forms remain appropriate; and
- how the pension interacts with the wider inheritance tax exposure.
This should not mean withdrawing pension funds simply to avoid a future tax charge. Taking money from a tax-advantaged pension environment can have significant income tax, investment and estate-planning consequences.
It does, however, mean that established retirement strategies may deserve another look.
4. Business owners should review succession plans
Owners of family and privately held businesses should also ensure that succession planning remains fit for purpose.
Recent changes to Business Property Relief mean that relying on the assumption that qualifying business assets will simply pass free of inheritance tax may no longer be appropriate in every case.
For deaths from 6 April 2026, 100% Agricultural and Business Relief is subject to a £2.5 million allowance, with 50% relief applying to qualifying value above the allowance. There are also provisions allowing unused allowance to transfer between spouses and civil partners.
For business owners, this can make valuation and succession planning considerably more important.
Questions might include:
- Who is expected to own the business in the future?
- Is the next generation involved?
- Is a sale ultimately more likely?
- How much of the owner's wealth is concentrated in the business?
- How would any inheritance tax liability be funded?
- Are the company's shareholder arrangements and wills aligned?
These are questions worth considering regardless of what happens at the Budget.
5. Review family investment structures
Families who already use companies, trusts, or other investment structures should periodically review whether those arrangements are still achieving their intended purpose.
Equally, families holding significant investments personally may want to consider whether their existing ownership structure remains suitable for the next generation.
For some families, this can include exploring a Family Investment Company (FIC) as part of a wider succession strategy.
A FIC can potentially allow wealth to be invested within a corporate environment while providing considerable flexibility over ownership, future growth and family control.
However, there is no standard FIC structure that works for every family. Share rights, funding arrangements, investment strategy, future distributions and inheritance tax objectives all need to be considered together.
The period before a Budget can be a useful time to begin those conversations, but structures should be implemented because they meet genuine long-term objectives rather than because of short-term speculation.
6. International families should review residence and cross-border arrangements
Tax planning is increasingly complex for internationally mobile families.
The move to the UK's residence-based regime for foreign income and gains and the introduction of the long-term residence framework for inheritance tax mean that residence history can now have significant consequences.
Clients arriving in, leaving or returning to the UK should therefore consider their position well before taking action.
Relevant areas can include overseas investments, trusts, companies, pensions, property and the timing of remittances or disposals.
In these cases particularly, acting before understanding the interaction between UK rules and those of another jurisdiction can be expensive.
Don't let the Budget dictate the plan
Pre-Budget planning is not about trying to second-guess the Chancellor.
There will always be rumours in the weeks before a Budget. Some will prove correct, many will not, and even where a policy is announced, the detail and effective date may be very different from the initial headlines.
A better approach is to ask:
Are there financial, investment or succession decisions that we are likely to make anyway, and should we review them now?
If the answer is yes, considering the position before the Budget can provide valuable time to understand the available options.
That does not necessarily mean taking action before 28 October. In many cases, waiting will be entirely appropriate.
But having considered the position beforehand means that once the Chancellor has spoken, decisions can be made based on the actual rules rather than in response to headlines.
How we can help
For clients with significant estates, businesses, investment portfolios, pensions or international interests, this is a sensible time to review existing tax and succession arrangements.
We can help assess your current position, identify areas that may warrant attention, and consider whether any action should be taken before the Budget — or whether the better course is simply to wait.
The objective is not to predict the next tax change.
It is to ensure that, whatever is announced, you understand your position and are well placed to respond.
How Can We Help You?
If you would like to speak to one of our advisers, please get in touch today.
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