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Integrating Estate Planning with Mental Health Support in Employee Benefits

· 20 min

Executive Summary

Employer wellbeing programmes address the connection between financial difficulty and mental ill health, yet overwhelmingly target immediate pressures -- budgeting, debt, savings -- while neglecting estate planning. The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute reports that 86% of people with mental health problems find financial difficulty worsens their condition, while 72% find the reverse. Estate planning avoidance is driven by psychological barriers: 49.9% of non-will-holders cite fear of death. From 6 April 2027, unused pension funds enter Inheritance Tax scope, creating a new category of employee anxiety. This article equips wellbeing managers with the evidence base, delivery framework, and regulatory compliance map -- including the ITEPA 2003 s 210 welfare counselling exemption and the Financial Conduct Authority advice-guidance distinction -- for integrating estate planning awareness into existing mental health and financial wellbeing provision.

1. The Blind Spot: Why Wellbeing Programmes Miss Estate Planning

1.1 The Scale of the Financial-Mental Health Intersection

The bidirectional relationship between financial difficulty and mental ill health is the foundational evidence for this article's central argument. The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, drawing on a survey of nearly 5,500 people with mental health problems, found that 86% reported their financial situation had made their mental health problems worse, while 72% reported their mental health problems had made their financial situation worse.1 This is not a one-directional pathway: financial difficulty and mental ill health operate as mutually reinforcing conditions, each amplifying the other in a cycle that employer intervention can disrupt -- but only if that intervention addresses both domains simultaneously.

The workplace consequences are material. The CIPD Good Work Index 2025, surveying approximately 5,000 employees with fieldwork conducted in February 2025, found that 31% of employees report money worries negatively affecting their work performance.2 Beyond productivity, 19% reported lost sleep due to financial worrying, 15% experienced health problems attributable to financial stress, and 13% found it difficult to concentrate or make decisions at work.2 These are the same presenteeism indicators -- sleep disruption, impaired concentration, stress-related health conditions -- that employer mental health programmes are designed to address. The income gradient is significant: 37% of employees earning less than GBP 40,000 reported financial worries affecting work performance, compared with 22% of those earning GBP 60,000 or more.2

Deloitte's Mental Health and Employers report, published in May 2024 and based on a YouGov survey of 3,156 working adults, quantifies the aggregate cost: poor mental health costs UK employers GBP 51 billion per year, with presenteeism the largest cost driver at approximately GBP 24 billion annually.3 This figure has risen from GBP 45 billion in 2019, though it represents a decrease from the GBP 53-56 billion range recorded in the 2022 edition of the report (covering 2020-21 data).3 The Health and Safety Executive's 2024/25 statistics reinforce the trajectory: 964,000 workers in Great Britain suffered from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety, up from 776,000 in 2023/24, accounting for 52% of all work-related ill health and 22.1 million lost working days.4 Mental Health UK's Burnout Report 2025 found that 91% of UK adults report high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year, with one in five needing time off due to poor mental health caused by pressure or stress.5

1.2 The Missing Dimension in Financial Wellbeing Provision

Despite this evidence base, employer wellbeing programmes exhibit a structural blind spot. The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey 2025 reports that 89% of organisations identify mental health as a key focus of their wellbeing activity, and 57% have a stand-alone wellbeing strategy -- up 13 percentage points since 2020.6 Financial wellbeing, however, lags behind. The Reward and Employee Benefits Association Financial Wellbeing Research 2025 found that only 11% of organisations have a mature financial wellbeing strategy aligned with business goals, compared with 29% for mental wellbeing strategy.7 The gap is compounded by implementation barriers: 76% of employers cite employees not knowing where to start as a barrier to improving financial wellbeing support, 72% cite a lack of joined-up provision, and 69% cite a lack of communications.7

Within this already underdeveloped financial wellbeing provision, estate planning is almost entirely absent. Employer programmes address budgeting tools, debt advice, pension adequacy, and emergency savings -- immediate financial pressures with tangible, near-term outcomes. Estate planning -- wills, beneficiary nominations, lasting powers of attorney -- addresses longer-term financial organisation that intersects directly with mortality, incapacity, and family vulnerability. It is precisely the financial planning activity most likely to generate sustained anxiety, and precisely the activity that wellbeing programmes overlook. Only 20% of UK organisations ask employees about their financial wellbeing at least once a year,2 and those that do rarely extend the assessment to estate planning readiness.

2. Estate Planning Avoidance as a Mental Health Issue

2.1 Psychological Barriers, Not Information Deficits

The conventional framing of estate planning inaction as a knowledge gap -- employees lack information about wills and probate, so employer education will close the deficit -- mischaracterises the problem. The National Will Register's 2024 Wills Report, surveying 2,008 respondents, found that 49.9% of non-will-holders cited fear of death as a reason for not having a will, while 54% cited inertia.8 Only 26% said they did not have enough assets to warrant making a will.8 Fear of death and decision paralysis are psychological barriers, not information deficits. They operate through the same avoidance mechanisms -- cognitive avoidance, emotional suppression, task deferral -- that characterise anxiety disorders more broadly.

The Today's Wills and Probate Consumer Research Report 2025 indicates that overall will ownership has risen to 41% of UK adults, up from 38% in 2024, with marked age variation: 41% of 18-24 year olds, 47% of 25-54 year olds, and 69% of those aged 55 and over have made a will.9 While this upward trend is encouraging, it means that 59% of the UK adult population -- and a majority of the working-age population -- lack the most fundamental estate planning document. Among those without wills, 53% had not informed anyone about what should happen regarding their estate, suggesting not merely the absence of a legal document but the absence of any engagement with estate succession.8

2.2 The Amplification Effect: Mental Health and Financial Decision-Making

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute's research demonstrates that during poor mental health periods, 63% of people struggle with financial decisions and 42% delay bill payments.10 People with depression and debt are 4.2 times more likely to still have depression 18 months later, evidencing a self-reinforcing cycle.10 The implication for estate planning is direct: the employees most likely to experience anxiety about unresolved estate planning are also the employees least able to take action. The psychological barriers that prevent will-writing -- mortality anxiety, decision paralysis, emotional avoidance -- are amplified by the impaired decision-making capacity associated with poor mental health.

The Mental Health Foundation's research reinforces the stigma dimension: 31% of adults reported feeling anxious in the past month due to their financial situation, yet 37% of adults with anxiety are ashamed to talk about it.11 Among younger employees, the stigma barrier is more pronounced: 56% of those aged 18-24 would not tell their employer about anxiety.11 This finding has direct programme design implications. Opt-in estate planning benefits -- where employees must self-identify by requesting services -- will systematically underserve the most vulnerable employees. Those experiencing the greatest estate planning-related anxiety are the least likely to self-refer, particularly younger employees who face both financial pressure and stigma around seeking support.

2.3 Bereavement and Intestacy as the Intersection Point

The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey 2025 reports that 67% of organisations provide bereavement support.6 Bereavement is the point at which estate planning -- or its absence -- becomes acutely visible. Bereaved employees navigating intestacy, contested nominations, or incomplete estate administration experience compounded grief and financial stress. The Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended) governs intestate succession in England and Wales, and critically makes no provision for unmarried cohabiting partners irrespective of the duration of the relationship or the presence of shared children.12 Stepchildren, non-formalised partners, and other non-traditional family structures are similarly unserved by the intestacy framework.

Wellbeing managers already supporting bereaved employees encounter the downstream consequences of estate planning avoidance: families without wills facing intestacy rules that may not reflect the deceased's wishes, outdated pension death benefit nominations directing funds to former partners, and the absence of lasting powers of attorney creating barriers to managing the affairs of incapacitated relatives. The diversity, equity, and inclusion dimension is significant: employees in cohabiting relationships, blended families, and same-sex partnerships that have not been formalised through marriage or civil partnership face the most severe consequences of intestacy. An inclusive wellbeing approach recognises that estate planning awareness is not a uniform need but one that varies by family structure, and that the consequences of inaction fall disproportionately on employees whose family arrangements are not reflected in the statutory default. Integrating estate planning awareness into bereavement support pathways addresses the problem at its most visible point while simultaneously creating a proactive framework to prevent similar outcomes for other employees.

3. The April 2027 Catalyst: Pensions, Inheritance Tax, and New Workplace Anxiety

3.1 What Changes

From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits will be included within the deceased's estate for Inheritance Tax purposes, as provided for in the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2025-26 following the Autumn Budget 2024 announcement and the October 2025 consultation outcome.13 As of February 2026, the Bill is progressing through the House of Commons Public Bill Committee, with Royal Assent anticipated ahead of the April 2027 implementation date. This represents a fundamental shift: prior to this change, pension funds held in drawdown or uncrystallised defined contribution arrangements were generally outside the scope of IHT, making pensions one of the most tax-efficient vehicles for intergenerational wealth transfer. The government estimates that of approximately 213,000 estates with inheritable pension wealth in 2027-28, 10,500 will newly face IHT liability and 38,500 will pay increased IHT, with an average IHT liability increase of approximately GBP 34,000 when pension assets are included.14

Critically for employer benefits, death-in-service benefits payable from registered pension schemes are explicitly excluded from the new IHT scope.13 Dependant's scheme pensions from defined benefit and collective money purchase arrangements are also excluded.13 This distinction between excluded death-in-service benefits and included unused pension funds is directly relevant to wellbeing programme design: employers providing both group life cover and defined contribution workplace pensions must communicate that the death-in-service lump sum remains IHT-free while the pension pot may attract IHT when directed to non-exempt beneficiaries. Existing spousal and civil partner exemptions are maintained, as are charity exemptions, meaning the IHT exposure applies primarily to benefits directed to adult children, extended family, or other non-exempt beneficiaries. Personal representatives -- not pension scheme administrators -- will be liable for reporting and paying IHT on the pension component, with the ability to direct scheme administrators to withhold up to 50% of benefits for up to 15 months.15

3.2 The Employer Engagement Imperative

Auto-enrolment has been systematically encouraging pension accumulation across the workforce. From April 2027, that accumulation carries IHT consequences that most employees will neither understand nor have planned for. The resulting uncertainty -- compounded by media coverage, workplace conversations, and the inherent complexity of tax interactions -- is a recognised anxiety driver. For wellbeing managers, the April 2027 changes transform estate planning from a peripheral financial planning topic into an active source of employee concern that existing wellbeing frameworks should address.

The coincidence of timing extends further. Mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind, deferred from April 2026 to April 2027, requires employers to report Income Tax and Class 1A National Insurance Contributions on most benefits in kind through Real Time Information rather than the annual P11D process.16 Employer-provided will-writing services, financial education sessions, or other estate planning support that constitutes a benefit in kind will fall within the mandatory payrolling requirement from the same date. Wellbeing managers designing estate planning programme components for 2027 must factor this dual compliance requirement -- pension IHT communication alongside benefits payrolling -- into their programme architecture from the outset.

4. Delivering Estate Planning Support Within the Wellbeing Framework

4.1 Embedding Within Existing Mental Health Pathways

The most effective delivery model integrates estate planning awareness within pathways employees already use, rather than creating standalone provision that requires self-identification. Bereavement support, anxiety management programmes, life transition support (new parenthood, divorce, diagnosis, caring responsibilities), and financial wellbeing sessions all provide natural entry points.

The Stevenson/Farmer Thriving at Work Review, published in 2017 and adopted by government within the public sector, recommended six mental health core standards for all employers, including producing and communicating a mental health at work plan, developing mental health awareness, and encouraging open conversations about mental health.17 The enhanced standards for larger employers include routine monitoring of employee mental health and wellbeing. Estate planning awareness fits within this framework as a component of comprehensive wellbeing provision: recognising that unresolved mortality-related financial decisions contribute to the anxiety, sleep disruption, and concentration difficulties that employer mental health plans are designed to mitigate.

4.2 Four Integration Pathways

Pathway 1: Pension Death Benefit Nomination Reviews. The lowest-cost, highest-impact intervention requires no specialist estate planning expertise. HR teams can implement structured annual nomination review prompts, coordinated with benefits enrolment windows, at defined trigger points: marriage, divorce, birth of a child, bereavement, and -- from April 2027 -- any material change in pension accumulation. The operational process sits within existing HR administrative workflows. The mental health benefit is the reduction of ambient anxiety associated with outdated or unconsidered nominations. Standard expression of wish forms should be reviewed for inclusivity, accommodating multiple beneficiaries, non-traditional relationships, and complex family arrangements to ensure that the nomination process serves the full diversity of the workforce.

Pathway 2: Financial Education Sessions. Scalable sessions covering the interaction between workplace benefits and personal estate planning -- the importance of wills, how pension death benefits interact with intestacy rules, the April 2027 IHT changes, and the difference between expression of wish nominations and testamentary bequests. General awareness content delivered to employee groups does not cross the FCA advice-guidance boundary (Section 5). The sessions function as mental health interventions by reducing the uncertainty and avoidance behaviour associated with estate planning inaction. Delivery should be segmented by career stage: younger employees with dependants face guardianship and life insurance adequacy considerations, mid-career employees navigating relationship changes require nomination updates, and employees approaching retirement face the most acute interaction with the April 2027 pension IHT changes.

Pathway 3: Bereavement and Life Transition Signposting. Employees engaging with bereavement support, parental leave processes, or divorce-related HR interactions represent a population at heightened need for estate planning awareness. Incorporating estate planning signposting -- information about will-writing services, nomination review prompts, and LPA awareness -- into these existing touchpoints meets employees at the point of need without requiring them to self-identify for a standalone benefit. This approach aligns with the Mental Health Foundation's finding that 37% of adults with anxiety are ashamed to discuss it:11 embedding support within existing pathways reduces the stigma barrier.

Pathway 4: Manager Training. Line managers are frequently the first point of contact for employee wellbeing concerns. The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey 2025 reports that only 29% of organisations train line managers in mental health.6 Extending manager training to include recognition of financial-estate planning stress as a wellbeing issue -- and equipping managers with appropriate signposting information -- leverages an existing training infrastructure. Managers need not provide estate planning guidance; they need to recognise that an employee expressing financial anxiety may benefit from signposting to estate planning awareness resources alongside existing financial wellbeing support.

4.3 Measuring Integration Effectiveness

Deloitte's 2024 report provides the business case framework: workplace mental health interventions generate an average return of GBP 4.70 for every GBP 1 invested, with universal (preventative) interventions -- the category into which estate planning awareness programmes fall -- showing an ROI of GBP 6.30 for every GBP 1 invested.3 While these figures relate to mental health interventions broadly rather than estate planning specifically, they establish that preventative interventions addressing the financial-mental health nexus deliver measurable returns. Wellbeing managers implementing estate planning integration should establish baseline metrics -- nomination review completion rates, will ownership among employees, engagement with estate planning education sessions -- and track these alongside existing mental health and financial wellbeing indicators to quantify the impact of integrated provision.

5. Navigating the Tax and Regulatory Boundaries

5.1 The Welfare Counselling Exemption: ITEPA 2003 s 210

The welfare counselling exemption, as implemented by SI 2000/2080, covers counselling on stress, workplace problems, debt issues, substance dependency, career concerns, bereavement, discrimination, health conditions, abuse, harassment, bullying, and relationship difficulties.18 From 6 April 2020, following SI 2020/291, medical treatments delivered as counselling -- such as cognitive behavioural therapy and interpersonal therapy -- also became exempt.18

The exemption specifically excludes "advice on finance (other than advice on debt problems), or advice on tax, or advice on leisure or recreation, or legal advice."18 Estate planning advice -- encompassing will drafting, trust structures, and tax mitigation -- falls outside the exemption on multiple grounds: it constitutes financial advice, potentially tax advice, and potentially legal advice. Any estate planning services delivered through an employee assistance programme therefore constitute a taxable benefit in kind. Mixed-service programmes require careful separation to preserve the exemption for qualifying components: the exemption applies only where substantially all programme components satisfy the criteria. A non-qualifying element risks compromising the exemption for the entire provision.

5.2 Benefit-in-Kind Treatment and the Trivial Benefits Exemption

Employer-funded estate planning services that fall outside the welfare counselling exemption must be treated as benefits in kind. The trivial benefits exemption under ITEPA 2003 s 323A provides a narrow window: benefits costing no more than GBP 50 per employee, provided they are not contractual, not salary sacrifice, and not cash or cash vouchers, may qualify.19 Financial education booklets or digital resources costing less than GBP 50 per employee may fall within this exemption; comprehensive will-writing services will not. Directors of close companies face an additional annual cap of GBP 300 across all trivial benefits received.19 HMRC treats reimbursement of personal expenses as equivalent to cash, meaning employers cannot reimburse employees' will-writing costs under this exemption.

Where benefits exceed the trivial threshold, they are reportable as benefits in kind. From April 2027, mandatory payrolling requires these to be processed through RTI rather than the annual P11D return.16 Wellbeing managers should ensure that payroll teams are briefed on the treatment of any new estate planning programme components ahead of the April 2027 compliance deadline.

5.3 The FCA Advice-Guidance Boundary and Targeted Support

The distinction between financial guidance and regulated financial advice is the most significant regulatory boundary for employer-delivered estate planning education. General financial education and guidance -- including awareness of the need for wills, the importance of nomination reviews, the existence of lasting powers of attorney, and the broad implications of the April 2027 pension IHT changes -- does not cross the regulated advice boundary.20 Individualised recommendations -- specific trust structures, tax mitigation strategies tailored to an employee's circumstances, or recommendations about pension drawdown versus annuity in light of IHT exposure -- constitute regulated advice requiring FCA authorisation.20

The FCA's targeted support regime, established under Policy Statement PS25/22 and effective from 6 April 2026, introduces additional scope. The regime allows authorised firms to make limited recommendations to groups of consumers with common characteristics without full individualised suitability assessments.21 For wellbeing managers, this means that pension providers serving workplace schemes may, from April 2026, offer group-level pension guidance that complements employer-led financial wellbeing programmes -- including targeted communications to employee cohorts about the IHT implications of pension accumulation. This development creates an opportunity for wellbeing managers to coordinate with pension providers, leveraging the targeted support regime to deliver more comprehensive pension-estate planning awareness than employers could lawfully provide alone.

Conclusion

The separation of estate planning from mental health support within employer wellbeing programmes is not merely an administrative gap; it is a strategic misalignment that leaves the highest-anxiety financial planning activity unaddressed by the very programmes designed to mitigate employee anxiety. The evidence is clear: the bidirectional relationship between financial difficulty and mental ill health applies with particular force to estate planning, where mortality anxiety, decision paralysis, and stigma around financial distress combine to produce avoidance behaviour that compounds both financial exposure and psychological distress.

The April 2027 inclusion of unused pension funds within IHT estates creates a time-specific catalyst. Employees accumulating pension wealth through auto-enrolment now face IHT consequences that most have not planned for, and the resulting uncertainty is an identifiable stressor that wellbeing programmes can address. Integration does not require employers to provide legal or financial advice; it requires them to recognise estate planning avoidance as a wellbeing issue and embed awareness, signposting, and administrative processes -- nomination reviews, education sessions, life transition touchpoints, manager training -- within existing mental health and financial wellbeing pathways.

The regulatory framework, while requiring careful navigation, does not prevent employer engagement. The welfare counselling exemption boundary must be respected, benefit-in-kind implications factored into programme costing, and the FCA advice-guidance distinction maintained in all employee communications. The Deloitte evidence that preventative mental health interventions generate GBP 6.30 for every GBP 1 invested provides a compelling business case for programmes that address the root causes of financial anxiety -- including the unresolved estate planning decisions that contribute to employee stress, sleep disruption, and impaired concentration across the workforce.3

CPD Declaration

Estimated Reading Time: 20 minutes Technical Level: Advanced Practice Areas: Employee Wellbeing Strategy, Financial Wellbeing Programme Design, Benefits Compliance, Mental Health at Work

Learning Objectives

Upon completing this article, practitioners will be able to:

  1. Evaluate the evidence base for the bidirectional relationship between financial difficulty and mental ill health, and its specific application to estate planning avoidance in the workplace
  2. Identify the tax and regulatory boundaries -- ITEPA 2003 s 210 welfare counselling exemption, ITEPA 2003 s 323A trivial benefits exemption, and the FCA advice-guidance boundary -- that constrain employer delivery of estate planning support
  3. Analyse the implications of the April 2027 pension death benefit IHT changes for employer wellbeing programme design and employee communication strategy
  4. Design integration pathways for estate planning awareness within existing mental health and financial wellbeing support frameworks, applying the four-pathway model to organisational context

Competency Mapping

  • CIPD Advanced Diploma: People Management -- employee wellbeing, engagement, and holistic support
  • CIPD Advanced Diploma: Reward Management -- designing benefits programmes within regulatory constraints
  • REBA Accreditation: Financial Wellbeing Strategy -- programme design, maturity assessment, and compliance

Reflective Questions

  1. How might the bidirectional financial-mental health evidence change the way estate planning is positioned within wellbeing programmes in the practitioner's own organisation?
  2. What existing touchpoints -- bereavement support, life transition events, pension communications -- could be adapted to include estate planning signposting without crossing the FCA advice boundary?
  3. How would the April 2027 pension IHT changes affect the pension communication strategy for employees in the practitioner's auto-enrolment scheme?

Professional Disclaimer

The information presented reflects the regulatory and legislative position as of 2026-02-26. Regulations, tax rules, and professional guidance are subject to change. Readers should independently verify all information before acting and seek advice from appropriately qualified solicitors, financial advisors, or other professionals for their specific circumstances.

Neither WUHLD nor the author accepts liability for any actions taken or decisions made based on the content of this article. Professional readers are reminded of their own regulatory obligations and duty of care to their clients.

Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. Money and Mental Health Policy Institute -- Money and Mental Health Facts and Statistics. https://www.moneyandmentalhealth.org/money-and-mental-health-facts/ ↩

  2. CIPD Good Work Index 2025 (June 2025). https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/reports/2025-pdfs/8868-good-work-index-2025-report-web1.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Deloitte -- Mental Health and Employers: The Case for Investment (May 2024). https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-mental-health-report-2024-final.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. HSE -- Work-Related Stress, Depression or Anxiety Statistics in Great Britain, 2024/25. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/stress.pdf ↩

  5. Mental Health UK -- The Burnout Report 2025 (January 2025). https://mentalhealth-uk.org/blog/burnout-report-2025-reveals-generational-divide-in-levels-of-stress-and-work-absence/ ↩

  6. CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey 2025 (September 2025). https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/reports/2025-pdfs/8920-Health-and-wellbeing-report-2025-/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. REBA Financial Wellbeing Research 2025 (2025). https://reba.global/resource-report/financial-wellbeing-research-2025.html ↩ ↩2

  8. National Will Register -- The National Wills Report 2024 (October 2024). https://www.nationalwillregister.co.uk/app/uploads/2024/10/The-National-Wills-Report-2024.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Today's Wills and Probate -- UK Wills & Probate Consumer Research Report 2025. https://todayswillsandprobate.co.uk/more-adults-making-wills-yet-legal-confusion-remains-2025-wills-probate-report-reveals/ ↩

  10. Money and Mental Health Policy Institute -- Money and Mental Health Facts and Statistics. https://www.moneyandmentalhealth.org/money-and-mental-health-facts/ ↩ ↩2

  11. Mental Health Foundation -- Financial Strain Is Driving the UK's Anxiety. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/about-us/news/financial-strain-driving-uks-anxiety ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/23 ↩

  13. GOV.UK -- Inheritance Tax: Unused Pension Funds and Death Benefits (Policy Paper, October 2024). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. GOV.UK -- Inheritance Tax: Unused Pension Funds and Death Benefits (Policy Paper, October 2024). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits ↩

  15. GOV.UK -- IHT on Pensions: Liability, Reporting and Payment -- Summary of Responses (October 2025). https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/inheritance-tax-on-pensions-liability-reporting-and-payment/outcome/inheritance-tax-on-pensions-liability-reporting-and-payment-summary-of-responses ↩

  16. GOV.UK -- Technical Note: Mandating the Reporting of Benefits in Kind and Expenses Through Payroll Software -- An Update. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reporting-and-paying-income-tax-and-class-1a-national-insurance-contributions-on-benefits-in-kind-in-real-time-an-update/technical-note-mandating-the-reporting-of-benefits-in-kind-and-expenses-through-payroll-software-an-update ↩ ↩2

  17. GOV.UK -- Thriving at Work: A Review of Mental Health and Employers (Stevenson/Farmer Review, October 2017). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thriving-at-work-a-review-of-mental-health-and-employers ↩

  18. ITEPA 2003, s 210. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/1/section/210; GOV.UK -- Income Tax Treatment of Welfare Counselling. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-treatment-of-welfare-counselling/income-tax-treatment-of-welfare-counselling; EIM21845. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21845 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. ITEPA 2003, s 323A -- Trivial Benefits. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/1/section/323A ↩ ↩2

  20. FCA -- Advice Guidance Boundary Review. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/advice-guidance-boundary-review ↩ ↩2

  21. FCA PS25/22 -- Supporting Consumers' Pensions and Investment Decisions: Rules for Targeted Support (December 2025). https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/policy-statements/ps25-22-consumer-pensions-investment-decisions-rules-targeted-support ↩

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