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More than one in five family-owned manufacturers are considering a sale to overseas buyers in response to changes to inheritance tax, according to a report from Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation, and the accountancy firm Bishop Fleming.

The report, based on responses from companies surveyed in May and June 2026, found that 22 per cent of family-owned manufacturers were weighing a sale to a foreign buyer because of the tax changes, with a further 18 per cent considering a sale to a UK buyer.

Among family-owned businesses, 78 per cent said they were worried about the effect of recent inheritance tax (IHT) reforms on succession planning. The 2024 budget changed the IHT regime to bring more assets within the scope of the tax, including a cap on business property relief.

Of the companies surveyed, 65 per cent identified as family-owned, and 89 per cent of those were also managed by a family member. From this the report extrapolated that family-owned businesses contribute an estimated £94bn to the UK economy and support about a million jobs.

The report said the tax changes raised the concern that “ownership and investment decisions become driven primarily by tax considerations rather than commercial objectives”.

It added: “This could lead some manufacturers to sell their businesses to third parties, alter ownership structures, or divert capital away from productive investment in order to manage future IHT liabilities.

“While the full long-term impact is difficult to quantify, such decisions risk weakening productivity growth and increasing the transfer of strategically important manufacturing assets to owners whose long-term priorities may not align with the UK’s economic interests.”

Across all manufacturers surveyed, high energy costs were the most commonly cited barrier to growth, mentioned by 59 per cent of respondents. The report said UK industrial electricity prices are the highest in the G7 and that 90 per cent of manufacturers have seen energy prices rise since 2022.

Economic uncertainty was cited by 53 per cent, while 47 per cent pointed to taxation. Make UK has previously warned that rising employment and energy costs were putting manufacturing investment at risk.

Fhaheen Khan, senior economist at Make UK, said: “Reducing energy costs, reviewing inheritance tax changes, strengthening apprenticeship funding and turning the Industrial Strategy into practical support on the ground are now essential if Britain is serious about securing the future of its manufacturing base.

“Family-owned manufacturers are not a niche part of the economy. They anchor skilled jobs, long-term investment and the industrial know-how Britain needs to make reindustrialisation a reality, something the prime minister is right to put back at the centre of the economic debate.”

Neil Davy, chief executive of Family Business UK, said the research added to “a growing body of evidence showing that changes to business property relief are having real-world consequences for family-owned businesses and the wider economy”.

Business groups have argued since the reforms were announced that the cut in business property relief to 50 per cent could force some families to sell their companies.

“Family Business UK has consistently warned that these reforms risk undermining the very businesses that drive long-term investment, create skilled jobs and sustain local economies,” Davy said.

“It is particularly concerning to see so many family-owned manufacturers reporting that succession plans are being disrupted and that investment decisions are being delayed as a result.”

Analysis published by CBI Economics has separately argued that the reforms could cost the exchequer more than they raise. The government has said the changes will affect about 2,000 estates a year, and in December 2025 it raised the combined relief threshold to £2.5m ahead of the reforms taking effect on 6 April 2026.

A government spokesperson said: “The chancellor is prioritising giving businesses breathing space to invest, grow and manage cost pressures.

“On Monday the chancellor will be setting out his vision for growth and how he will work with business to unlock their latent potential.

“We have cut business rates, saving thousands of businesses over £1,000 a year, capped corporation tax, are providing a £4 billion access to finance boost for SMEs and taking action to tackle late payments to help businesses invest and hire across the UK.”

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

School districts across the country continue to struggle to recruit and retain enough school bus drivers, forcing them to compete with other employers for a limited pool of qualified workers despite higher wages.

School bus driver employment remained 9.5% below 2019 levels in August 2025, even as inflation-adjusted hourly wages rose 4.2% over the previous year, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis. The employment figures are based on 12-month rolling averages of federal survey data.

“The wages are simply too low,” Hilary Wething, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute told FOX Business, identifying pay as the primary reason the workforce has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The job can also present scheduling challenges. School bus drivers often work split shifts, with an early-morning route followed by several hours off before an afternoon route, making the position less attractive than trucking, delivery, transit or other jobs offering higher pay or more predictable hours.

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School buses are lined up in the bus yard after the first day of school on August 12, 2026. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Wething also cautioned against assuming that people classified as outside the labor force are available to fill those positions. The category can include retirees, students, caregivers and people with disabilities.

The East Greenbush Central School District in New York experienced those staffing pressures firsthand during the 2025-2026 school year.

East Greenbush Central School District Superintendent Kurtis Kotes sits in the driver’s seat of a school bus after completing training for his commercial driver’s license. (East Greenbush Central School District)

When Superintendent Kurtis Kotes took over in July 2025, the district was short nearly 14 bus runs. Mechanics, dispatchers and other employees with the required licenses had to help cover routes.

“We had to consolidate runs,” Kotes told FOX Business. “It meant students were late being picked up from home. Sometimes it meant they were late getting back home again, and it would impact instructional time.”

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The district responded with a “bus rodeo” recruitment event that allowed prospective drivers to try operating a school bus with trainers, even if they did not yet have a commercial driver’s license. Kotes said the event resulted in approximately five to eight hires.

East Greenbush Central School District Superintendent Kurtis Kotes helps students aboard a school bus during a route after earning his commercial driver’s license. (East Greenbush Central School District)

East Greenbush pays drivers approximately $28 an hour and offers health benefits, which Kotes said can be an important recruiting and retention tool as the district competes with an Amazon warehouse, other public-sector employers and seasonal work such as snowplowing.

“The issue becomes… health benefits behind that for people that are looking at this as a primary source of income,” he said.

The district also tries to provide drivers with opportunities for additional hours during the middle of the day, including field trips and custodial or cleaning assignments. Some drivers take other part-time jobs to supplement their income.

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The district has also sought to give administrators a better understanding of the job. Kotes and the district’s interim human resources director obtained their own licenses to support the transportation department and better understand the work.

Kotes spent five weeks training before earning a Class B CDL with school bus and passenger endorsements. His training covered defensive driving, student management, safety procedures, emergency response and vehicle inspections before he completed a road test. He drove his first student route in December 2025.

East Greenbush Central School District Superintendent Kurtis Kotes, who earned his commercial driver’s license, stands with school transportation staff in front of a school bus. (East Greenbush Central School District)

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Kotes does not drive a daily route but helps cover sports and after-school runs when needed. He said the district is now in a better staffing position, though competition for workers remains.

Wething said the expiration of federal pandemic-relief funding has put additional pressure on school systems. The funding helped districts hire support staff, including bus drivers, but districts now must maintain transportation services with tighter budgets.

For families, a shortage of drivers can mean late pickups, longer rides, consolidated routes and other transportation disruptions. For districts, filling the gap may require more than higher hourly wages, with benefits, additional hours, training support and retention efforts all playing a role in competing for workers.

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Kotes said compensation is only part of the equation, with workplace culture also playing a role in keeping drivers on staff.

“When people feel like they’re valued, they’re going to want to work here,” he said.

Business News has expanded its political coverage with the appointment of experienced journalist Adrian Rollins as its first reporter based at Parliament House in Canberra.

Rollins started with Business News today and will cover federal politics with a particular focus on decisions in Canberra that affect Western Australian businesses and the state’s economy.

He will also play a key role in expanding Business News’ coverage of defence, an industry expected to become increasingly important to WA as spending associated with AUKUS and the federal government’s broader defence strategy flows through the economy.

That coverage will extend beyond defence policy to the companies, contracts, investment, infrastructure and supply chains associated with the sector, as well as the opportunities for WA businesses seeking to participate in it.

Rollins brings extensive experience covering federal politics and economics, including two stints at The Canberra Times and six years as economics correspondent for The Australian Financial Review. At the AFR he covered federal politics, Treasury, the Reserve Bank, federal budgets and the economic and political response to the Global Financial Crisis.

Earlier in his career, Rollins spent several years in The Age’s Canberra bureau, including as a federal political reporter and later chief of staff, where he managed the newspaper’s 11-person federal politics bureau.

More recently, he returned to The Canberra Times as economics correspondent, covering economics, politics, monetary and fiscal policy, Treasury, the Reserve Bank and federal budgets.

His experience outside journalism includes a stint last year as a speechwriter in government. He has also worked on Australian government programs in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Business News executive editor Sean Cowan said establishing a permanent reporting presence in Canberra was a significant step in the publication’s continued growth.

“Western Australia is enormously exposed to decisions made in Canberra, whether they relate to resources, tax, energy, infrastructure, trade or defence,” he said.

“We want to be much closer to those decisions and the people making them, rather than looking at federal politics solely through a Perth lens.

“Adrian has spent much of his career covering politics and economics in Canberra and understands how government policy translates into consequences for businesses and the economy.

“Defence will be a particularly important part of his brief. The scale of investment planned through AUKUS and the broader build-up of Australia’s defence capability has the potential to create substantial opportunities for WA businesses.

“We will be following that investment closely; who is winning the contracts, where the money is being spent, what infrastructure is being built and which Australian businesses are positioning themselves to participate.”

Rollins holds a PhD in politics, trade and public policy from the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy, as well as a Master of International Business from the University of Melbourne.

His appointment continues a period of significant investment in Business News’ journalism, data and intelligence capabilities.

Veteran journalists Gary Adshead and Neale Prior joined the newsroom last year, adding to a reporting team that includes former editors Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall, deputy editor Jack McGinn and senior journalists Claire Tyrrell and Tom Zaunmayr.

The expansion has occurred at a time when many commercial media organisations have reduced editorial staffing, with Business News continuing to invest in journalism and data as its subscription business has grown.

The publication has also increasingly expanded its coverage beyond traditional WA business sectors, including greater reporting on defence, technology, local government, property and federal policy.

Business News was this year recognised with three Alliance of Area Business Publishers awards in the United States, including being named the best website among more than 60 business publishers across Australia, Canada and the US.