At 4pm on Monday 8 December 2025 the House of Lords Economic
Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee will take evidence from MP, Exchequer Secretary to
the Treasury.
This evidence session, which is open to the public, will be held
in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords and streamed live and
on demand on Parliament TV.
Questions the committee is likely to ask include:
- Given the complexity of bringing pensions into Inheritance
Tax (IHT), what alternative models for dealing with unused
pension funds in the IHT system did the Treasury consider and why
were those options rejected in favour of the approach proposed in
the draft Finance Bill?
- Does the Government accept that the new reporting and payment
obligations on unused pension funds, taken together with existing
IHT responsibilities, will place a significant practical burden
on many lay personal representatives (PRs)?
- What assurance can you give that the Budget changes will not
further discourage firms from acting as PRs?
- What assessment has the Government made of the capacity and
skill sets available within the professional valuation community,
and what steps will you take, through guidance or otherwise, to
support a consistent and timely approach to valuations by HMRC?
- Why has there been a lack of confidence in the published
analysis, and do you consider that earlier engagement with
farmers and representative bodies could have helped ensure a
greater level of trust in the Government's use of statistics?
- In light of the additional steps now required for both
APR/BPR claims and the new pensions reporting, does the
Government remain confident that the six-month deadline for
payment remains appropriate, given the interaction with probate
timescales, valuation processes and potential liquidity
constraints in estates?
