From 6 April 2027, unused pension savings and some death benefits will be included in the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. The inclusion of unused pensions and some death benefits in the value of estates will mean that some will now pay an Inheritance Tax bill that previously wouldn’t have and some estates will pay more income tax than they would under the current rules. Additionally, ‘personal representatives’ (usually the executors of the Will), will be liable under the changes for reporting and paying any inheritance tax due.

Dependants’ pensions and lump sums left to charity will continue to be exempt. You can read more about the changes and any exemptions at gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension and gov.uk/tax-on-pension-death-benefits

Although these changes are not due to take effect until April 2027, it remains important to keep your beneficiary nominations up to date. You can do this by completing an expression of wish form – it only takes a few minutes.

An expression of wish form can be downloaded from the Plan website at bmspensionplan.co.uk/plan-documents. Simply complete the form, return it to the Plan administrator, and make sure you keep it up to date. The Trustee will continue to exercise its discretion when deciding who should receive any discretionary death benefits and will take your nomination into account when making its decision.

If you believe you could be affected by the upcoming inheritance tax changes, you may want to consider taking on independent financial advice. The Trustee offers access to this through Origen Financial Services, whose details can be found at bmspensionplan.co.uk/useful-links/.