Few tax changes in recent memory have generated as much quiet worry as this one. From April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits will fall within the scope of inheritance tax. For decades, pensions were the asset you left until last, partly because they could pass to the next generation outside the estate. That planning assumption is ending.
Advisers already know the scale of it. Surveys of independent advisers this year found almost all of them concerned about the change, with firms expecting around two thirds of their clients to be affected and to need inheritance tax advice. Many practices are reporting a clear rise in estate planning enquiries, including referrals from solicitors.
And yet the same research points to a stubborn problem: concern about the cost of inheritance tax advice is putting people off seeking help at all. Worry is high, action is low, and the deadline is fixed.
That gap between anxiety and action is exactly what a well-built website is for.
Most advice demand is driven by life events that arrive on their own schedule. This one has a date on it. That changes how people behave and how your website should respond.
A paragraph on your existing “Estate Planning” page will not capture this. A dedicated page, built specifically for the April 2027 change, will. It gives you something to rank in search, something to cite in AI-generated answers, something to send in client emails, and something a solicitor can forward with confidence.
Here is what that page should contain.
A plain-English explanation of what is changing. In two or three short paragraphs: what happens to unused pensions from April 2027, who is likely to be affected, and why this matters now rather than later. No jargon, no scaremongering, no detailed technical analysis on the first screen.
A quick “are you likely to be affected?” check. Three or four simple questions — approximate pension value, total estate, marital status, whether the family home is involved. Not a calculator that pretends to give advice, but a prompt that helps a visitor recognise themselves.
A worked example. A fictional couple, with realistic numbers, showing how the same estate could face a substantially higher bill after April 2027 than before it. Numbers make the change real in a way that descriptions do not. Keep it clearly illustrative, and keep it compliant.
What sensible planning looks like. A high-level overview of the kinds of things advisers are reviewing — the order in which assets are drawn, nominations and beneficiaries, gifting, trusts, protection to cover a liability — without straying into personal recommendations.
A clearly scoped first step. This is the answer to the cost objection. A defined “pension and inheritance tax review” with a clear description of what it includes, what the client receives, and how the fee works. People hesitate when advice feels open-ended. They act when the first step is specific.
One obvious way to book. A short form or calendar booking, visible without scrolling, that works perfectly on a phone.
A meaningful share of the people researching this change are not the pension holders themselves. They are their sons and daughters, in their forties and fifties, worried about what their parents’ estate will face and unsure how to raise it.
A short section addressed to them — “Worried about a parent’s estate?” — with guidance on how to start the conversation and how a family meeting with an adviser works, opens a second door. It also introduces your firm to the next generation of clients at a moment of genuine usefulness, which is the best possible first impression.
Solicitors drafting wills and accountants preparing year-end figures are hearing about the April 2027 change from their own clients. Many will happily refer to an adviser who makes it easy.
A short page aimed at professional introducers, explaining your process, how you report back, and how a referred client is handled, removes friction from that relationship. Pair it with the consumer-facing campaign page and a solicitor can forward a single link with complete confidence.
A campaign page tied to a deadline should not die on the deadline. After April 2027, the same page becomes an evergreen guide: “How inheritance tax applies to pensions”. The search demand will not disappear; it will simply change from “what is about to happen” to “what does this mean for me now”.
Build the page so it can be updated rather than replaced, keep the URL stable, and the authority it earns over the next six months will keep working for years.
One page is the anchor. A handful of supporting articles will multiply its reach and give you reasons to contact clients between now and April:
Each one links back to the campaign page and each one gives you a reason to email clients something genuinely useful.
Search visibility takes time to build, and the people who will act before April are researching now. A page that launches in March is a page that arrives too late for most of the planning it was meant to prompt.
That is where a fast, focused build helps. Heer Digital builds independent IFAs a working homepage prototype at no cost and no obligation, and the same rapid approach applies to campaign pages: design agreed in days, then built into your site so you can update it yourself.
If your current website cannot support dedicated landing pages and regular articles, a WordPress build gives you the publishing engine to run this campaign and the next one without calling a developer each time.
The deadline is fixed. The only variable is whether the people worried about it find you before April or after.
Contact Heer Digital for a no-cost, no-obligation homepage prototype and a fast route to your pension IHT campaign page.
