Pensions will become subject to inheritance tax (IHT) from April 2027, but how much of a role does protection play in your approach to building IHT strategies for your clients? And how confident are you about the protection options that are available to you?

But with IHT receipts expected to almost double, and sweeping changes to business and agricultural property relief already landing from April 2026, paraplanners can expect more and more clients to want to explore all the options.

So at this Assembly, host Richard Allum was joined by Alan Jenkinson, protection specialist at Scottish Widows, to walk through the essentials. During their lunch-hour discussion, Richard and Alan unpack IHT and how it works, run through the key exemptions and reliefs, and explore how protection fits into an IHT planning conversation alongside gifting strategies, trust structures and the normal expenditure out of income rules.

There’s also a really useful section on the underwriting process: what to do when a client has health risk factors, when concurrent applications make sense, and why a declined application isn’t necessarily the end of the road.

If you’re looking for a solid grounding in this area — or a practical refresher before your next client review — this one’s well worth an hour of your time.

Following his popular Assembly debut in February, Jon Hall returns to finish his exploration of protection essentials at 1pm on Wednesday 2 April 2025.

And this time it’s the essentials of business protection that the Scottish Widows’ protection expert will be focusing on.

And with good reason.

A Swiss Re report in 2024 claimed that of almost 1.4 million new protection policies sold in the UK in 2023, just 2.8% were related to business protection and relevant life policies [1]. And in a country where 99.8% of the 5.6 million privately owned businesses are SMEs – that’s according to the UK Government data – it doesn’t half seem like there’s a BIG business protection gap in the UK. (The source of those stats, you ask? See below.)

The chances are you’ll have business owners among your clients. And plenty of you run your own businesses as outsourced and freelance paraplanners.

So what happens when someone running a business becomes critically ill or dies? What steps can you take to address the risk? How do you start a conversation about business protection?

Tune in to hear Jon as he shares his expertise on:

Whether you want to develop your knowledge or make sure clients with business have the right plans in place, you’ll find this Assembly really valuable.

PS.

Shortly after the event, Jon popped over to The Big Tent and answered questions that paraplanners had raised during the gathering, but he hadn’t had time to answer live, in a dedicated thread. Be sure to take a look at his responses.

[1] The Business Protection Opportunity.

Do you find that, even though you spend each and every day working on financial plans for clients, you hardly ever get mixed up in protection? 

Well you’re not alone. Because despite being a foundational long-term financial security, for paraplanners, the topic of protection often takes a back seat compared to consideration of investment and retirement strategies.

Which invites the question: what happens to that carefully crafted financial plan if a client’s income falls or they’re faced with the financial consequences of a bout of serious illness or worse? 

In other words, what does every self-respecting paraplanner need to know to make sure their clients plans don’t unravel when the unexpected happens unexpectedly?

Protection: get up to speed

To find out tune into the recording of this Assembly held online on 5 February 2025 when Jon Hall, protection specialist at Scottish Widows, joined us to explore protection essentials for paraplanners.

Whether you’re new to protection or need a refresher, the recording of this session will help you understand:

What you’ll discover when you tune in

Jon brings real-world experience as both a protection specialist and former adviser focusing on high-net-worth and complex cases. He shares insights on how paraplanners can help build protection into the advice process, even in firms where it hasn’t traditionally been a focus.

Straight after the event, Jon popped over to The Big Tent and created a thread where he answered questions that paraplanners had raised during the gathering but he hadn’t had time to answer live. Be sure to take a look at his responses.

Think of this as your Paraplanners Protection Toolkit, perfect for:

Anyone with limited protection experience Anyone who wants to increase their understanding and want to introduce more protection into client plans Anyone who thinks they know it all but wouldn’t mind brushing up a little

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…

Think of this as your Paraplanners Protection Toolkit, perfect for:

Anyone with limited protection experience Anyone who wants to increase their understanding and want to introduce more protection into client plans Anyone who thinks they know it all but wouldn’t mind brushing up a little

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…

Think of this as your Paraplanners Protection Toolkit, perfect for:

Anyone with limited protection experience Anyone who wants to increase their understanding and want to introduce more protection into client plans Anyone who thinks they know it all but wouldn’t mind brushing up a little

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…

Protection sits at the heart of many financial plans and we explore the basics.

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…