Carlisle firms held a session on investments, inheritance tax, and pensions following the Government's Autumn budget.

Carlisle-based Rachael Bell Wealth Management and Saint & Co Chartered Accountants, along with Newcastle's Muckle LLP organised the event.

It was attended by business owners and associates eager to understand the impact of the policies introduced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves in the Labour Party's first budget in 14 years.

The decision to move pensions into inheritance tax regimes and the increased tax burden on businesses were among the main topics.

The event was attended by business owners and associates eager to understand the impact of the policies  (Image: Supplied) Rachael Bell, practice principal at Rachael Bell Wealth Management, said: "Several announcements in the budget have fundamentally shifted the landscape, particularly when it comes to estate planning and inheritance tax.

“That means the best laid plans will inevitably need to be revisited and adapted to take account of these changes. 

“There was a very healthy debate about the various approaches to tax efficiency and estates, but this is, of course, an increasingly complex area."

Lindsay Farrer, managing partner at Saint & Co Chartered Accountants, addressed the employer National Insurance rate hike and its impact on businesses.

She said: "The combined impact of minimum wage and NI increases will be crippling, and we are starting to see many businesses react."

Lindsay presented projections showing how businesses will be impacted by the changes.

A company with 25 employees earning the minimum wage and working 40-hour weeks will now have to find more than £56,000 extra to pay the same people.

She said: "We already are seeing shift hours cut, split shifts introduced, people leaving jobs and not being replaced as a direct result of last week’s budget."

The panel, which included Alex Dent from Saint & Co, and Rachael Stephenson from Muckle, also covered estate planning, trusts, capital gains tax, intergenerational planning, lifetime giving, succession planning, and business asset disposal relief.