Farming Archives

Tees new Senior Wealth Planner now settled and seeing clients

Posted on 14 November 202329 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

Tees Financial Ltd has recently welcomed Senior Wealth Planner David Blackman, a role with a key focus on working with the farming community – a first for the firm.

Tees has a long history of working with farming families, going back 100 years, but before now, we’ve not had a senior financial adviser on board who specialises in this area.

With over 32 years of experience in financial services, David is passionate about helping all clients through life events, with a real interest in planning tax efficiency for agricultural businesses and owners. Tees’ financial advisers work with clients to help them pass on their farm and land assets to the next generation in a well-planned and tax-efficient way. This includes taking advantage of Inheritance Tax reliefs (IHT), Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR).

Part of David’s role is to help farming businesses make any necessary adjustments in investment activities and to encourage the use of Trusts and other ownership structures to ensure assets can be passed on tax-efficiently.

David is looking forward to advising more clients and said “It’s important that farming families think about putting appropriate plans in place. It can all be confusing with so many options out there, so I’m here to make sense of it all for our clients and advise on the best ways to protect assets and plan for the future. This includes help on pension and retirements too.”

David has a breadth of experience in providing finance advice to the rural community and has joined Tees after previously working for NFU Mutual – a Farmers’ Union insurance composite, so he fully understands the needs and complexities involved in agricultural land ownership and business. As a Chartered Financial Planner and a Chartered Associate of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, David is also able to advise on protecting family wealth and ensuring financial stability in the future.

“I am passionate about helping clients to achieve their goals and it’s so important to me to grow relationships with my clients by regularly reviewing financial plans, instead of just being very transactional. That’s what I love about the job.”

Our specialist financial advisers are based in several sites including Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, but can help anyone in the UK.

If you would like to find out more about our services or speak to David directly, call our team on 080o 015 1165.

Farm health and safety: Legal responsibilities for farmers

Posted on 27 March 202320 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

On a daily basis, farmers and farm workers are exposed to potentially dangerous machinery, vehicles, chemicals and livestock. Farmers are subjected to all sorts of risks including working at height, dealing with electrical equipment and working near pits and silos. Coupled together with the ever-changing weather conditions it is no surprise that the farming industry has a reputation for having a bad safety record.

Farmers have legal responsibilities for health and safety under various regulations in the UK, such as the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Under these regulations, farmers have a duty of care to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of their employees, contractors, visitors, and members of the public who may be affected by their activities. This includes providing adequate training, instruction, and supervision to ensure that workers can carry out their work safely, providing suitable equipment and machinery, and maintaining safe working conditions on the farm.

Farmers are also responsible for carrying out risk assessments to identify and manage potential hazards on the farm, and for developing and implementing appropriate health and safety policies and procedures.

At Tees, our regulatory experts are skilled at identifying the applicable rules and regulations for farming and agriculture. We can help clarify the potential effects of these regulations on your business practices.

In relation to compliance with these regulations to maintain good health and safety practices, Jamie Hare, a regulatory law expert, at Tees, examines the obligations of farmers and the steps they should take to fulfil these responsibilities.

What are the benefits of implementing safety measures on farms?

Having some simple safety measures in place can prevent unnecessary non-fatal and fatal accidents from occurring. Managing risks in a sensible way helps to protect your business, your family and your workers. It has the additional benefits of reducing injuries and ill health in your workforce which results in improved productivity and better morale. It also provides a level of protection from potential penalties and prosecution if something serious does occur.

Why is training important for everyone working on a farm?

Providing training is a fundamental yet critical aspect to consider. It is vital that training is extended to all individuals employed on a farm. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers and self-employed individuals to provide their workers with relevant information, guidance, training and supervision that is essential to ensure their safety and well-being at work, to the extent that it is reasonably practicable.

What are the specific training requirements in the farming industry?

There are a number of other regulations which include specific training requirements. For example, The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 [DL1] specifies the need for training for people who use work equipment. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 specifies health and safety training should be provided when new people commence employment.

The underlying message is that everyone at work needs to know how to work safely and without risks to health.

How can training help?

Training enables workers to know about the hazards and risks they may face, and the precautions to take (including any emergency procedures) and should help them to carry out their work safely. It will also enable them to know how to use protective measures, such as guards on machines, the start-stop procedure, PPE and safe methods of work.

How can training be carried out?

Training can be provided in a number of ways and can involve various methods. It can be provided by instructions or on-the-job training delivered by an experienced worker. It can be provided by online courses or by attending local colleges and training centres.

How do I assess the risk on a farm?

It is important to be proactive about the health and safety aspects of your farm business. All accidents can be avoided if the risks are properly managed. A risk assessment is a careful look at what, in your business, could cause harm to people, so that you can decide whether you have taken sufficient precautions, or should do more.

This will enable you to find out which areas of your farm pose the greatest risk to health and safety. Once you have identified these potential risks, you can then take practical steps to avoid accidents. The law does not expect you to completely eliminate health and safety risks on your farm, but rather that you take all steps that are reasonably practical to ensure you and your staff work in a safe environment. This means practising sensible risk management and introducing controls that are proportionate to the risks.

What is the aim of a risk assessment and how can it be used to avoid accidents?

The aim of the risk assessment process is to evaluate the risk or hazard, then remove that risk or hazard or minimise the level of risk by adding the necessary control measures. A hazard is anything that might cause harm, such as working from ladders. The risk is the chance that someone could be harmed by the hazard.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 places a duty on employers and the self-employed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their own health and safety and that of others from the work they do.

For each hazard, you need to be clear about who might be harmed. Farming activities can possibly pose risks to the health and safety of you and your employees, any casual workers, part-time workers, trainees or apprentices, contractors, and customers. It also extends to walkers, hikers and cyclists that may come onto your land. Public safety should be a part of your overall health and safety policy.

How do I assess the risk?

The first step is to consider how people might be harmed and how that harm may occur. Examples could include being killed by a bale or vehicle, injured by falling through a fragile roof, crushed by livestock, or suffering long-term health problems from breathing in grain dust.

If you can, you must eliminate the hazard altogether, but if you cannot do this, then you must control the risks by considering the following:

Introduce a less risky option, e.g., switch to a less harmful chemical.
Prevent access to the hazard, e.g., securely cover or fence a slurry pit or guard the dangerous part of a machine.
Organise work to reduce exposure to the hazard, e.g., put barriers between people and moving vehicles.
Provide personal protective equipment, e.g., clothing or footwear.
Provide welfare facilities, e.g., first aid and showers for removing contamination.

What is the 5-step process for approaching risk in the farming industry?

The HSE guidance in relation to health and safety in agriculture sets out a 5-step process to approaching risk.

Step 1: What are the hazards?
Step 2: Who might be harmed and how?
Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions
Step 4: Put the results into practice
Step 5: Check controls stay in place and review the assessment.

A risk assessment is not an end in itself. It will not prevent someone from suffering a non-fatal or fatal injury.

This will only happen if you implement the control measures to deal with the hazards and risks you find. If you find there are quite a few improvements needed, big and small, don’t try to do everything at once. Deal with the most important things first, e.g., those that could kill, seriously injure, or cause serious illness.

Farmers will need to ensure that everyone who works on the farm knows about the results of your assessment and understands the controls you have put in place.

Farmers will need to regularly check on the control measures to ensure they are being adhered to and remain in place.

With the developments in ways of work and technology, no workplace remains the same for any length of time. Sooner or later, you will buy new equipment or change ways of working that might bring in new hazards.

If there is a significant change in working practices farmers need to respond to it straight away and review the relevant risk assessments.

What happens if I don’t comply with the regulations?

If a farmer fails to comply with their legal responsibilities for health and safety, they may be prosecuted and face fines or other penalties. In addition, if a worker or member of the public is injured or becomes ill because of the farmer’s failure to provide a safe working environment, the farmer may be liable for compensation claims.

Our regulatory experts can assist in regulatory action including:

health, safety and environmental,
regulatory enforcement including appeals.
inquests

NFU confirms appointment of its legal panel firms in East Anglia

Posted on 10 October 202230 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

The NFU has confirmed the outcome of its 2022 review of legal panel firms, with two firms reappointed to the panel in East Anglia.

Tees and HCR Hewitsons have been reappointed after a review that assessed the firms’ legal services, engagement with the organisation and its members, as well as feedback from NFU members and staff.

NFU director of policy Andrew Clark said: “The legal panel is an important feature of the NFU’s legal services offering to our members and I am delighted to confirm the reappointments.

“The NFU’s panel firms are committed to supporting NFU members and have clearly strengthened their agricultural and rural teams over the past few years. Their broad expertise is highly valued by our in-house legal team and NFU members.”

Tees has been reappointed to help members farming in Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk. Partner Caroline Metcalf said: “We are pleased to have been selected to be on the NFU legal panel again. Being selected really demonstrates Tees’ depth of legal knowledge and expertise in agricultural and rural issues.”

The firms appointed to the legal panel offer a comprehensive legal service encompassing all areas of law relevant to farming and growing, including succession planning, diversification, renewable energy, dispute resolution, planning, probate, family and conveyancing. In the latest financial year, the panel offered a total discount of over £500,000 to NFU members.

NFU legal board chair Nick Hamer said: “The aftermath of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic created several challenges for farming and growing businesses”

“We are entering a period of transition for the industry and this undoubtedly puts the legal panel in high demand, providing expert advice to NFU members on a wide range of legal matters.”

One farming family, over 30 years of trusted legal and financial advice

Posted on 12 April 202129 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

For over three decades, Tees has provided expert legal services to multiple generations of the Miller* family, a prominent agricultural family with extensive farming, land and property interests located across several English counties.

Our senior partner and specialist in rural succession and estate planning, Catherine Mowat, has worked closely with the Millers for many years, helping them capitalise on opportunities for efficient estate planning and take advantage of valuable Inheritance Tax reliefs.

Alongside Catherine’s team, our Commercial Property, Residential Property, Commercial and Wealth Management teams have worked together collaboratively in order to help the Miller family effectively manage their business and property interests.

Passing assets on to the next generation

Catherine has worked extensively with the Millers over a number of years to put in place comprehensive arrangements that will enable more senior family members to pass on their assets effectively to future generations, whilst minimising the Inheritance Tax (IHT) payable on their estate.

The family were advised to make substantial lifetime gifts to their children and grandchildren, enabling assets to be passed on to younger generations in a controlled way.

How does Inheritance Tax (IHT) work?

IHT is a tax on the capital value of assets (including money, property and possessions) either when somebody has died or on some gifts made during lifetime. On death, it is generally payable at a rate of 40% on all assets over the value of £325,000, although there are exemptions and reliefs that can be used to lessen the amount due. Another way of reducing the IHT payable on your estate is to make lifetime gifts. If you make gifts more than seven years before you die, there will usually be no IHT due on these gifts on your death. If tax does arise, only gifts given less than three years before you die attract the full 40% IHT rate, making lifetime gifts an excellent opportunity for passing on assets to minimise tax.

These lifetime gifts also caused the estate value belonging to the children to rise, increasing their IHT liability. Here, our Wealth team stepped in to help set up suitable life insurance arrangements, written in trust to minimise the impact of a significant tax bill.

Why should I write my life insurance policy in trust?

Writing your life insurance in trust is a way to avoid paying IHT on the eventual payout. When you place an asset into a trust, you essentially give up ownership of that asset to the trust and appoint trustees to oversee it (this can be a solicitor, like Catherine, or somebody else). As the assets (in this case, the life insurance policy) don’t officially belong to you, they aren’t classed as being part of your estate and are therefore not subject to IHT.

Catherine has also worked with the Millers to draft essential estate planning documents such as Wills and Powers of Attorney, and acts as a trustee for the various trusts within which the family’s business and property assets are held. Her many years spent advising this family have enabled her to build a strong relationship with the Millers, bound by mutual trust and respect.

Taking advantage of Inheritance Tax (IHT) relief

Over the years, our Wills, Trusts and Probate team has worked closely with the Millers to ensure their entitlement to valuable IHT reliefs. For example, Catherine’s advice has enabled the family to take full advantage of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) on their eligible assets.

What is Agricultural Property Relief (APR)?

APR allows farming families to pass on agricultural property at a reduced or 0% rate of IHT, either during a person’s lifetime or in their Will. To apply for APR, the land or property must have been owned for at least seven years, or occupied for two years and must be used for growing crops or rearing animals, or take the form of farm buildings, cottages or houses. It does not apply to farm equipment or machinery, derelict buildings, harvested crops or livestock. APR can be due at 100% or 50%, depending on the circumstances.

Catherine also regularly reviews the balance of the Millers’ business activities to ensure that no entitlement to Business Relief (BR) is lost, by using the ‘Balfour’ test.

What is Business Relief (BR)?

BR allows business owners to pass on certain business assets at a reduced or 0% rate of IHT, either while they are still alive or via their Will. The owner must have owned the assets for at least two years before they died for them to be eligible. BR is due at 100% for:

A business, or interest in one
Shares in an unlisted company

It is due at 50% for:

Shares controlling over 50% of the voting rights in a listed company
Land, buildings or machinery owned by the deceased and used in a business in which they were a partner or controlled
Land, buildings or machinery used in the business and held in a trust the business has the right to benefit from

To be eligible for BR, a business must also be classed as a predominantly trading business. However, many farms are becoming increasingly diversified, with activities such as cottage rentals and holiday lets shifting the balance from trading to investment.

Catherine used the Balfour test to assess the Millers’ farming business and used the results to advise the family on achieving the best balance between trading versus investment activities within the farming partnership for BR purposes.

Strategic land and property solutions

Our Commercial Property team regularly steps in to assist the Miller family in matters relating to the lease or sale of land and properties, which include a range of sites with commercially let units, and other strategic deals such as granting options. Rural specialists within our Commercial Property team will negotiate and facilitate these various land transactions.

An example of the type of planning advice we offer might be in relation to land owned by a family trust on which planning permission has been obtained for development. In this situation our Corporate team would step in to advise on the incorporation of a ‘freezer’ company.

The team would also prepare bespoke articles of association, ‘freezing’ the value of certain interests in the company in order to cap ownership. This ensures that the growth and value of the land will be passed on to the next generation tax-efficiently and limit their IHT liability.

What is a ‘freezer’ company?

Also known as a family investment company (FIC), a ‘freezer’ company is essentially a private limited company whose shareholders are all family members. Commercial solicitors can help the family prepare bespoke articles of association that set out the rights and interests each party holds within the company. For example, the parents can set themselves up as voting shareholders – thus maintaining control over the company – but ‘freeze’ the value of their interests in the company to cap their ownership.

Meanwhile, the children can be non-voting shareholders but own the majority of the shares, allowing the growth and value to pass on tax-efficiently to the next generation. This makes ‘freezer’ companies an ideal vehicle for intergenerational wealth management, allowing assets to be passed on during your lifetime whilst still retaining control of them. If you live for more than seven years after setting up the company, no IHT will be due (according to the rules of lifetime gifting).

A full- service firm rural families can depend on

For over a century, Tees has been a trusted partner to farming families like the Millers, helping them pass the family business from generation to generation. In this time, our agricultural specialists have developed a unique understanding of the challenges facing the rural community.

From tailored business advice to passing your land and assets tax-efficiently to the next generation, our specialist agricultural lawyers can help you navigate the complex relationship between business, land and family interests.

*Please note that the family’s name has been changed for anonymity.