Expert articles by Stephen Hunt ACII, Chartered Insurance Risk Manager and STEP Affiliate, covering APR and BPR reforms, pension inheritance tax from April 2027, trust planning strategies, and protection solutions for farmers, business owners and families.
2 March 2026
With just 34 days remaining before the APR and BPR reforms take effect on 6 April 2026, this article delivers a final warning to every farm and business owner in the UK. It demonstrates that a one-day difference in timing produces a £1,000,000 difference in immediate tax on a trust transfer, and introduces the Four Pillars of protection.
Read article →1 March 2026
The definitive step-by-step mathematical proof of how a £1,000,000 pension can be reduced to just £100,000 for the family — an effective tax rate of 90%, not the widely quoted 87%. Using a real-world example to walk through each of the three tax layers that combine to devastating effect.
Read article →24 February 2026
Addressed directly to the boomer generation, this article provides the practical solution framework for protecting pension wealth across generations despite the April 2027 reforms. It introduces the two-trust structure that creates immediate liquidity outside the estate with long-term governance and control.
Read article →18 February 2026
The concluding part of the pension trilogy introduces the Three-Tax Cascade: the interaction of inheritance tax at 40%, loss of the Residence Nil Rate Band through taper, and income tax on drawdown, which can reduce a £500,000 pension to just £64,000 — an effective tax rate of 87.2%.
Read article →17 February 2026
Documents the four structural "dominoes" that dismantled the UK's world-leading pension system: the shift from compulsory to voluntary membership, the 105% surplus cap combined with the Maxwell scandal, the Minimum Funding Requirement, and the removal of ACT credits.
Read article →15 February 2026
The first in a three-part series tracing the rise and fall of the UK's occupational pension system, written from 46 years of lived industry experience. Documents how Britain built a pension system that was the envy of the world, with 12.2 million active members at peak in 1967.
Read article →13 February 2026
Reveals a hidden danger in the April 2027 pension inheritance tax reforms: the sequencing risk when two deaths occur either side of the deadline. Demonstrates how a £1 million pension can generate a £400,000 IHT bill through a simple timing mismatch.
Read article →5 February 2026
Drawing on 46 years in life assurance and pensions, this article traces the history of back-to-back insurance structures and introduces "Certainty3": using surplus pension income to fund whole of life premiums, creating guaranteed cover that sits outside the estate.
Read article →4 February 2026
Episode 2 of the trust planning series tackles the four most common tax objections to lifetime trusts: Gift with Reservation, Chargeable Lifetime Transfers, income tax, and Stamp Duty Land Tax. Each is shown to be either manageable or entirely non-existent.
Read article →4 February 2026
The first in a five-part series challenging the assumption that lifetime trusts are inherently complex or risky. Starting from a real case of a grieving widow blindsided by a testamentary trust, it asks why trust administration is routinely deferred to the worst possible moment.
Read article →18 January 2026
While business owners and farmers fight the daily alligators, a quiet countdown runs towards midnight on 5 April 2026. This article examines why disaster planning, not tax planning, should be the starting point for every business and farm owner.
Read article →9 January 2026
Sets out the case for immediate business protection planning alongside the APR/BPR reforms. Introduces the Three Pillars framework — Key Person cover, Relevant Life policies, and Whole of Life assurance — demonstrating that comprehensive protection can cost less than the lease on a Range Rover.
Read article →5 January 2026
Examines the closing window for settling qualifying farm and business assets into trust before the APR and BPR reforms. Drawing a direct historical parallel with the 1975 Capital Transfer Tax regime, it argues that once a lifetime tax framework is introduced, it rarely goes away.
Read article →3 January 2026
The increase in APR and BPR relief to £2.5 million was welcomed, but for sick and single farmers and business owners, anti-forestalling provisions mean meaningful planning routes remain permanently closed. An examination of who is left without options.
Read article →Calculate your IHT liability and see instant indicative insurance costs to protect your estate.