Section 153A — Inheritance Tax Act 1984: Death of emergency service personnel etc

Death of emergency service personnel etc 153A 1 The reliefs in subsection (2) apply where a person—

a dies from an injury sustained, accident occurring or disease contracted at a time when that person was responding to emergency circumstances in that person's capacity as an emergency responder, or b dies from a disease contracted at some previous time, the death being due to, or hastened by, the aggravation of the disease during a period when that person was responding to emergency circumstances in that person's capacity as an emergency responder.

2 The reliefs are—

a that no potentially exempt transfer made by the person becomes a chargeable transfer under section 3A(4) because of the death, b that section 4 (transfers on death) does not apply in relation to the death, and c that no additional tax becomes due under section 7(4) because of a transfer made by the person within 7 years of the death. 3 “ Emergency circumstances ” means circumstances which are present or imminent and are causing or likely to cause—

a the death of a person, b serious injury to, or the serious illness of, a person, c the death of an animal, d serious injury to, or the serious illness of, an animal, e serious harm to the environment (including the life and health of plants and animals),

f serious harm to any building or other property, or g a worsening of any such injury, illness or harm.

4 A person is “responding to emergency circumstances” if the person—

a is going anywhere for the purpose of dealing with emergency circumstances occurring there, or b is dealing with emergency circumstances, preparing to do so imminently or dealing with the immediate aftermath of emergency circumstances.

5 For the purposes of this section, circumstances to which a person is responding are to be taken to be emergency circumstances if the person believes and has reasonable grounds for believing they are or may be emergency circumstances. 6 “ Emergency responder ” means—

a a person employed, or engaged, in connection with the provision of fire services or fire and rescue services, b a person employed for the purposes of providing, or engaged to provide, search services or rescue services (or both),

c a person employed for the purposes of providing, or engaged to provide, medical, ambulance or paramedic services, d a constable or a person employed for police purposes or engaged to provide services for police purposes, e a person employed for the purposes of providing, or engaged to provide, services for the transportation of organs, blood, medical equipment or medical personnel, or f a person employed, or engaged, by the government of a state or territory, an international organisation or a charity in connection with the provision of humanitarian assistance.

7 For the purposes of subsection (6)—

a it is immaterial whether the employment or engagement is paid or unpaid, and b “ international organisation ” means an organisation of which—

i two or more sovereign powers are members, or ii the governments of two or more sovereign powers are members.

8 The Treasury may, by regulations made by statutory instrument, extend the definition of “emergency responder” in subsection (6).

9 Regulations under this section are subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.