The extended nil rate band freeze (ref 2016 Budget) makes the yearly IHT exemptions all the more important:

The £3,000 annual exemption. Any unused part of this exemption can be carried forward one tax year, but it must then be used after the £3,000 exemption for that year. So, for example, if you made a gift of £1,000 covered by the annual exemption in 2015/16, you can make gifts totalling £5,000 covered by the annual exemption in 2016/17 by 5 April 2017.   

• The £250 small gifts exemption. You can make as many outright gifts of up to £250 per individual per tax year as you wish free of IHT, provided that the recipient does not also receive any part of your £3,000 annual exemption.
• The normal expenditure exemption. Any gift that you make is exempt from IHT if:
  • it forms part of your normal expenditure; and
  • taking one year with another it is made out of income; and
  • it leaves you with sufficient income to maintain your usual standard of living.

 Year End Planning: If you are making an annual exemption gift by way of a cheque, remember that legally the gift is only made once the cheque is cleared. Tuesday April 5 is the final banking day of 2016/17, so a cheque given the previous weekend (2/3 April) will probably not clear in time.