Since the autumn there has been growing unrest among farming communities in the UK following the Labour government’s decision to rip up the current Inheritance Tax (IHT) playbook, with significant changes proposed to both Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Relief (BR) – dubbed the ‘Family Farm Tax’.

Deeply rooted in the rural communities they serve, our client was uniquely placed to not only comment on the impact of the IHT changes, but also the repercussions on farming families – their clients.

Our aims:

1. Boost the profile of our client within the national media and key sector press – Landed estates, agriculture & farming

2. Lean on their expertise to highlight their services and knowledge

3. Position our client as the industry leader, taking their voice centre stage

So, with this huge, national discussion taking place, we knew we had an opportunity, but we needed the data to do so.

The Data

Working closely with one of our partner research agencies we developed a questionnaire which targeted UK farmers to uncover what they felt the true impact of the legislative changes would be. Needless to say, after polling 2,000 British farmers, the results of our survey threw up some alarming headlines, including:

Over half of farms could go out of business in the next 10 years

39% of farmers expect their farm to be unsustainable within five years

1 in 10 farms expect to face an inheritance tax bill of over £1 million, with 31% expecting a bill of over £500,000

41% believe they will have to sell off at least half their farm business to pay their IHT bill

Only 40% of farms polled expect to fall below the proposed tax relief caps – leaving the equivalent of 125,400 UK farms* above the threshold – a stark contrast to the Government’s estimates of 500 estates per year

In total, 60% of farmers worry that their business won’t be financially sustainable in the future if ministers forge ahead with their plans

These were damning results, ones we knew would grab national attention. However, we also knew third-party endorsement of the results would help amplify our message further.

Third-Party Endorsement

Using our little black book, we reached out to the CLA and influential farming voices such as Olly Harrison – the organiser of the national demonstrations and Pancake Day rally in London – to get their perspective on our research.

CLA President, Victoria Vyvyan called the research “significant”, explaining how “farm businesses will become unviable” if the government pursues this course of action.

Olly Harrison said: “Any politician’s priority should be to keep its nation fed. I’m shocked by the lack of understanding by government of what UK farms do, three times a day, every day for everybody in the country. These are scary times and not just for farmers. The question is, will we see ration books again or even a ration app?”

With our headlines and commentary from notable industry figures ready, it was time to take our research to the press.

Taking the Results to Press

Using data splits, we created news announcements which hit our client’s national and local audiences, focusing on what Gloucestershire’s farmers were seeing on the ground, as well as the impact across the UK. Both announcements were crafted to engage the audience, spotlight the changes in the legislation, and generate interest in the findings.

By splitting out our announcements in this way, we were also able to target different sectors of the media, including Finance, Business, Farming, National, Political, Local, Personal Finance and Money editors.