Farmers 'feel like they're worth more dead than alive' after inheritance tax changes
by Abbie Llewelyn PA political staff · ChronicleLiveConcerns have been raised in Parliament about the potential impact on farmers' mental health following changes to inheritance tax on agricultural land announced in the Budget.
Peers in Westminster have reported hearing from elderly farmers who believe it would be better for them to pass away before the changes take effect in April 2026.
The Bishop of St Albans, Rt Rev Alan Smith, who is the son of a farmer and president of the Rural Coalition, highlighted the significant mental stress faced by farmers.
He stated: "Even though there are many, many successful go-ahead farmers, there is nevertheless a huge level of mental stress on our farmers and that’s a phenomenon that has been true for many, many years."
"Indeed, sadly there is a extraordinarily high number of suicides amongst the farming community."
"And yet, as one elderly farmer put it, ‘Many of us are feeling so depressed, because these announcements suggest we’re not wanted and we’re worth more dead than we are alive’, pointing out that, if he manages to die before April 2026, his assets are going to be passed on, if he doesn’t, probably the farm is not going to survive."
"This cost on the mental health of so many of our farmers should not be underestimated."
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Northover shared a conversation she had with a Cornish farmer who works on a 350-acre farm owned by her 87-year-old mother.
Lady Northover said: "Her daughter’s voice broke as she told me her mother thought she was better off dying before the change comes into effect in April 2026."
"And the debates over assisted dying and the elderly potentially feeling that they are a burden came horribly to mind as I listened to her."
Lady Northover, who hails from a farming background with her father being a tenant farmer and her mother from a family of farmers, also shared: "I know from my own extended family how extreme financial pressures in farming can play out."
She then recounted to the Lords a personal tragedy within her family where her mother's cousin took his own life due to the financial stress on his farm, a situation that forced his young son to quit college and take the reins of the family business. Lady Northover continued to describe the burdens farmers face saying: "Weather, disease blights, the prices that supermarkets are willing to pay, government policies, global events that drive up the cost of fuel and fertiliser – there are so many aspects over which the farmer has little or no control."
Furthermore, expressing her dismay, the former Coalition minister highlighted how it was "shocked" that Chancellor Rachel Reeves had declined a meeting with the National Farmers Union, adding: "If she is so sure of what she’s doing, she should have that confidence."
From the Defra sidelines, Baroness Hayman of Ullock gave reassurances that the Government would take every action necessary to safeguard the mental health of individuals working within the agricultural sector.
She noted: "I absolutely recognise that farmers face challenges on many fronts and we will do everything we can to safeguard the mental health of people working in the sector."
She added: "Access to mental health support can be very important to farming families, who can find themselves often isolated and who sometimes struggle to ask for help."
Highlighting government initiatives, she said: "The Government is working to improve mental health and access to services – and I pay tribute to all those who work to raise awareness of these issues and encourage those farming families who are struggling to reach out for help."
For mental health support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org
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