They employ millions of people, provide stability through economic cycles and often take a longer-term approach than other forms of ownership.

Yet the environment in which many family businesses operate is changing. Rising costs, policy uncertainty, evolving tax rules and increasingly complex family dynamics are challenging assumptions that may once have felt secure.

This report explores not only whether family businesses can survive in the UK today, but what they need to do to remain family-owned across generations.

Drawing on interviews with business owners, advisers and wealth specialists, alongside original survey research among more than 500 family business owners, the findings suggest that family businesses remain remarkably resilient but that survival is becoming more planned, more professionalised and less automatic than in previous generations.