The Morning Briefing: Burnham appoints Healey as chancellor; IHT receipts hit £2.3bn
Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Tuesday 21 July 2026. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Burnham appoints Healey as chancellor
Prime minister Andy Burnham has appointed former defence secretary John Healey as the UK’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The appointment of Healey, who has replaced Rachel Reeves in Number 11, was seen by many as a surprise and ends weeks of speculation.
Healey’s name was barely mentioned pre-announcement, with the likes of Shabana Mahmood, Ed Milliband and Wes Streeting widely tipped for the role instead.
IHT receipts hit record £2.3bn
Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts from April to June hit a record high of £2.3bn, according to the latest figures from HMRC.
This is £96m higher than the Treasury collected in the same period last year.
Income tax, capital gains tax (CGT) and National Insurance Contribution (NIC) receipts for April 2026 to June 2026 were also at a record high at £132.1bn – an increase of £11.4bn.
Quote Of The Day
Burnham will have little time for a honeymoon period, having taken office amid a flurry of key economic data and with the Bank of England’s interest rate decision just over a week away
– Jonathan Raymond, investment manager at Quilter Cheviot, on the scale of the challenge facing the new prime minister
Stat Attack
New research by Zable reveals that 81% of Brits have already turned to unregulated sources for pension advice.
It shows:
85%
Men are more likely to rely on unregulated sources for pension advice, with more than eight in ten turning to platforms outside of regulated guidance.
26%
of men reported that they have lost money as a result of following bad financial advice on pensions.
77%
of women turn to unregulated sources for pension advice.
18%
Almost one in five said they have lost money as a result.
47%
Almost half of 23–34-year-olds admitted to using AI tools or social media platforms when seeking pension advice.
9%
Nearly one in ten Gen Z respondents reported losing between £2,500 and £4,999.99 as a result of receiving poor financial advice in the past 12 months.
Source: Zable
In Other News
Confidence that collective defined contribution (CDC) pension schemes will become widely adopted remains low, despite growing political and regulatory momentum, according to a new webinar survey by Sacker & Partners.
Polling conducted during a recent webinar found that 61% of respondents were not confident that CDC arrangements would gain significant traction.
When asked which features of CDC arrangements might prove most challenging to communicate, almost half (48%) said they considered all aspects of the model that Sackers had flagged would be challenging, while 26% identified the possibility of retirement incomes falling as the trickiest feature to convey to members.
The findings come at a pivotal moment for CDC, as the government looks to expand the framework beyond single and connected employer schemes to enable both unconnected multi-employer schemes (UMES) and retirement-only CDC arrangements.
Midlands-based BRI Wealth Management has appointed former Rathbones CEO Paul Stockton as a non-executive director.
Stockton served as chief executive officer of Rathbones Group from 2019 to 2025, having previously held the roles of group finance director and managing director of its investment management business.
A chartered accountant who qualified with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1992, he brings more than three decades of experience across wealth management, investment management and financial services.
Earlier in his career, Stockton held senior finance positions at Old Mutual, Gerrard Ltd, Euroclear and Phoenix Group.
He has also served on several industry bodies and boards, including the FCA Practitioner Panel and the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA).
From Elsewhere
London Stock Exchange to introduce nonstop trading next year (Bloomberg)
European banks set for profit boost from lending, trading windfall (Reuters)
AI is becoming a geopolitical weapon, warns EU digital chief (Financial Times)
Did You See?
At least one adviser firm has taken legal action against Jupiter Asset Management, alleging ‘breach of contract’ over the removal of trail commission, Money Marketing understands.
The parties have since reached a settlement of £2,265.
Jupiter has recently undertaken a review of a small number of remaining clients invested in legacy trail commission share classes.
It transferred relevant investors’ holdings from the L Class to the J Class – a standard ‘clean’ share class that pays no trail commission – on 26 June 2026. Trail commission payments to affected firms have ceased.
