Farmers face another hammering as Labour pulls £10m support fund

Yahoo

20-02-2025

Ministers have quietly shelved a mental health support fund for farmers despite warnings that the Government's inheritance tax raid is wreaking havoc on their livelihoods.
The £10m Farming Resilience Fund, which offers business advice as well as mental health support, was introduced by the Conservatives in October 2022 and is due to close on March 31.
Labour is facing criticism for failing to extend or replace the scheme after triggering a mental health 'crisis' with its inheritance tax raid – dubbed the 'family farm tax'.
Since 2020, more than £23.8m has been spent through resilience funds, which were designed to help farmers navigate the effects of Brexit, figures released to The Telegraph show. During the 2023-24 tax year, £10.6m was handed out through the scheme, the highest of any year.
The fund covered a host of mental wellbeing initiatives for farmers including awareness webinars in partnership with the farming charity the Farm Safety Foundation, known also as Yellow Wellies.
However, a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed the fund will close as planned in March.
It comes after Yellow Wellies said this week it had seen a 55pc leap in demand for counselling services and a 13pc increase in calls to its crisis support centre last year.
Victoria Atkins, the shadow minister, said: 'This Labour Government has left farmers in dire straits.
'Their cruel family farms tax is hammering farmers across the country, leaving many at risk of bankruptcy, and some tragically losing their lives, and yet they are offering no help for the consequences of their own decisions.
'With the Government talking big on mental health support, it is shameful they are now considering withdrawing support from farmers who have already suffered so much under Labour.'
Edward Morello, the Liberal Democrat MP for West Dorset, told The Telegraph that the fund should be extended to continue support for farmers.
Mr Morello added: 'The Farming Resilience Fund is a vital resource for rural businesses to get the support and advice they need in these troubled times. Our farmers have been overlooked for far too long and the family farm tax risks being the final straw. Farmers are vital to food security, to the protection of our natural environment and to the British economy.'
Victoria Vyvyan, president of the Country Land and Business Association, said: 'This is yet another sign that the Government neither understands the challenges facing farmers – nor cares to.'
Stephanie Berkeley, of Yellow Wellies, which campaigns for farmers' mental health, said: 'Farming in the UK has weathered many crises over the years. However, this emerging mental health crisis could prove the most devastating.'
Farmland was previously exempt from inheritance tax under a policy called agricultural property relief.
However, the Chancellor scrapped this relief during her maiden Budget. It means that from April 2026, a tax of 20pc will apply to agricultural assets over £1m.
In November, The Telegraph reported that John Charlesworth, 78, had taken his own life, just before the announcement.
His son, Jonathan, 46, said the father-of-two ended his life after being 'eaten away' at the prospect of his family losing the £2m estate, which has been owned by the family since 1957, because of the Chancellor's tax increase.
It comes after talks between farming representatives and senior Treasury officials to discuss the impact of the tax raid this week turned sour.
Tom Bradshaw, the National Farmers' Union president said: 'Disappointment doesn't describe how I feel.'
A government spokesman said: 'The Government is tackling the mental health crisis in our farming communities. That is why we are investing billions of pounds and recruiting 8,500 mental health professionals across our NHS.
'More widely, we are investing £5bn into farming over the next two years, the largest amount for sustainable food production in our country's history and are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.'
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