Story perspectives

Major Inheritance Tax Overhaul Looms: Middle-Class Families at Risk

10/14/2025

Summary

Story summary

Chancellor Rachel Reeves (UK Chancellor of the Exchequer) is set to announce inheritance tax changes in the Autumn Statement on 26 November 2025.
Experts warn the changes could affect UK households, particularly wealthier families, by slashing tax-free allowances.
The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the number of estates liable for inheritance tax to rise from 31,500 to 66,600 by the end of the decade.
Possible changes include extending the seven-year rule to ten years and capping unlimited gifts from surplus income.
Critics warn these adjustments could burden middle-class families and turn inheritance tax into a “great middle-class trap.”

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Story summary

Chancellor Rachel Reeves (UK Chancellor of the Exchequer) is set to announce inheritance tax changes in the Autumn Statement on 26 November 2025.
Experts warn the changes could affect UK households, particularly wealthier families, by slashing tax-free allowances.
The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the number of estates liable for inheritance tax to rise from 31,500 to 66,600 by the end of the decade.
Possible changes include extending the seven-year rule to ten years and capping unlimited gifts from surplus income.
Critics warn these adjustments could burden middle-class families and turn inheritance tax into a “great middle-class trap.”