The Intermediary – October 2026 - Flipbook - Page 68
L AT E R L I F E L E N D I N G
Opinion
We need to talk
about IHT
T
here was a time when
Inheritance Tax (IHT)
could be dismissed as
someone else’s problem.
For clients, there was
an assumption that it is
something only the seriously wealthy
need to worry about, while for
mortgage brokers it may have felt like
a subject that sat more naturally with
financial planners.
But that viewpoint is becoming
increasingly difficult to maintain.
The latest HMRC figures show that
Inheritance Tax receipts reached
£3.2bn between April and July 2026,
£100m higher than over the same
period last year. Even as the growth
in receipts slows, we are still seeing
record amounts collected.
Frozen thresholds and the growth
in asset values have already brought
more people into the IHT net, while
from next April unspent pension
assets are due to be included within
estates for IHT purposes. IHT is no
longer something that only needs to
concern clients with vast amounts
of wealth. Someone who has paid off
their mortgage, built up a reasonable
pension and accumulated some
savings may find their family facing a
bill they simply hadn’t expected.
It’s a subject brokers must be
actively including in their advice
sessions, ensuring clients are aware of
some of the options open to them.
For many clients, their home is the
largest asset they own, and the house
price growth we have seen over the
years means some have accumulated
significant levels of equity, without
necessarily thinking of themselves as
particularly wealthy.
Mortgage brokers are therefore in
a useful position when it comes to
spoing where there may be an issue.
We know what the property is worth,
we know how much is outstanding on
the mortgage and, through the normal
conversations we have with clients,
we will oen have a good idea of what
66
The Intermediary | October 2026
they want to do with that wealth in the
years ahead.
At Rosemount we are seeing advisers
have far more conversations about
IHT with clients, and increasingly it is
the clients themselves who are raising
the subject. There is understandable
frustration among some who feel
they have paid tax throughout their
working lives, saved responsibly
for retirement and paid off their
mortgage, only for their family to
potentially face another tax bill when
they die.
However, plenty of other clients
will still assume IHT isn’t going to
affect them, or simply won’t want
to talk about it. It isn’t the easiest
conversation to have, because
ultimately you are talking about what
happens when someone dies, but that
doesn’t make it any less important.
Between generations
This is also becoming increasingly
relevant to brokers because of the
way wealth is being passed between
generations. We are seeing clients
withdraw or release money with the
intention of giing it to children or
grandchildren, and oen that money
is being used towards a property
purchase.
Equity release has a role here too.
It is no longer simply a product for
someone who needs to boost their
income in retirement. For some
families, later life lending is being
considered as part of a much broader
discussion about what to do with
housing wealth, and whether it makes
sense to pass some of it down while the
client is still alive.
None of this means that releasing
equity, giing money or any
other particular course of action is
automatically the right thing to do,
but it is increasingly difficult to look at
a mortgage in isolation from the rest
of a client’s finances.
Clients don’t necessarily think about
their finances in the separate product
AHMED BAWA
is CEO at Rosemount
Financial Solutions (IFA)
categories that the industry does.
Their mortgage, pension, savings,
investments and plans for their
children are all part of the same
financial life, and advice increasingly
needs to recognise that.
Knowing when to refer
Mortgage brokers aren’t expected to
suddenly become estate planning
experts, nor should they stray into
areas where they aren’t qualified
to advise. But what they can
do is recognise when a client’s
circumstances suggest there is a wider
issue which needs to be explored.
That makes partnerships
increasingly important. Our mortgage
advisers can work alongside financial
planners so that, when a mortgage
conversation highlights an IHT or
wider financial planning need, there
is someone available to take that
discussion further.
Brokers who don’t have those
relationships in place should be
thinking about how they can
develop them.
There is obviously a business
benefit in being able to offer clients
access to a wider range of expertise,
but this is really about delivering
the right outcome for the client.
Estate planning is one of those areas
where time can make an enormous
difference, and waiting until a client
is much older, or until the family
is forced to confront the issue, can
reduce the options available.
Brokers don’t need to have all the
answers, but we should be prepared
to ask the question and know where
to turn when a client needs more
specialist help. For a growing number
of ordinary homeowners, IHT isn’t
somebody else’s problem anymore. ●
