Overview

• Saltus’s latest Wealth Index finds nearly 80% of high‑net‑worth respondents expect further tax rises within a year, with 46% anticipating higher Capital Gains Tax.
• Rathbones reports a sharp uptick in inheritance advice requests since summer, with 43% of clients holding £5m or more expecting to need estate‑planning guidance in the next year.
• Wealth managers say clients are using trusts, gifting and other strategies as officials are reported to be weighing a lifetime gifts cap and further inheritance‑tax changes.
• Some measures are already set: unused pension pots are due to fall into the inheritance‑tax net from April 2027, and key reliefs are being curtailed, influencing behavior now.
• Confidence readings have improved from prior lows but remain tempered by a projected fiscal gap—reported around £20bn—and uncertainty that may not clear until late November.