Member

As I did in Committee, let me take an example of how that might affect a senior non-commissioned officer. An individual at OR 9 rank equivalent, a senior warrant officer at the top of the non-commissioned officer rank structure, has a partner to whom they are unmarried, and on death leaves an estate worth £400,000 and death-in-service benefits of £248,292—four times their £62,000 salary. They would pay 40% inheritance tax on the non-pensioned assets, resulting in an IHT liability of £30,000, but after April 2027, and if the death-in-service benefits are included in the estate, that will increase the estate’s value to £648,292, and the IHT liability will increase accordingly to £129,316. That represents a staggering increase of 330%.