{"id":631697,"date":"2026-10-15T19:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631697\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T19:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:58:08","slug":"its-not-just-billionaires-fleeing-britain-a-record-69300-workers-have-left-the-u-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631697\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not just billionaires fleeing Britain\u2014a record 69,300 workers have left the U.K."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just Britain\u2019s billionaires voting with their feet<\/a> and taking $160 billion with them to the likes of Switzerland and Monaco. Nearly 70,000 workers decided to leave the U.K. last year\u2014a record. But it\u2019s not just to save money on tax.<\/p>\n

Around 69,300 taxpayers filed P85 forms, the paperwork used to tell HMRC you\u2019re leaving the U.K. permanently, in the 2025\/26 tax year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s up 32% from 52,000 the year before, according to analysis of HMRC data by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, as reported by The Telegraph<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The true number is likely higher, since many people who leave don\u2019t file one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that there\u2019s been a wave of wealthy residents quitting Britain, with the biggest TK occurring after the Conservative government announced the end of the non-dom regime in March 2024, months before handing over the reins to the Labour party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Higher Stamp Duty on rental properties, VAT on private school fees and rises in Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and employers\u2019 National Insurance contributions have also added to the squeeze on households\u2019 finances.<\/p>\n

But not everyone is packing up over the tax bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natasha Stanley, head of coaching at the careers site Careershifters, has helped thousands of people change careers and start fresh for well over a decade\u2014and she says she can\u2019t think of a single client who has left for tax reasons. \u201cFor tax purposes specifically, I can\u2019t think of anyone,\u201d she told Fortune.<\/p>\n

Saving money gets most of the blame for the exodus\u2014career coach says it\u2019s actually sunshine and lifestyle\u00a0<\/p>\n

So if it isn\u2019t tax pulling people abroad, what is it? According to Stanley, it\u2019s the life on offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of people are moving for lifestyle purposes and more sunshine,\u201d Stanley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some move to be with partners from other countries. Others, she added, are watching the NHS (Britain\u2019s National Health Service) crumble and looking at where they can get better national services elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But most people have simply had enough of grinding through the grey weather. She pointed to Spain and Switzerland as two destinations that she\u2019s seen professionals happily relocating to.<\/p>\n

\u201cOthers just think, I\u2019m done with the rat race here, and if I\u2019m going to change career, I might as well take this opportunity to live somewhere that offers me the kind of lifestyle that I\u2019m looking for,\u201d Stanley added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Research shows she has a point<\/p>\n

Spain has just topped InterNations\u2019 Expat Insider Quality of Life Index for the fifth year running<\/a>, and one in five expats there say a better quality of life was their main reason for moving. Around 89% are happy with the climate, and 83% with the quality of healthcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it certainly isn\u2019t the job market pulling them in: Spain ranked in the bottom ten<\/a> for countries to work abroad.<\/p>\n

Even among the wealthy, tax isn\u2019t the only pull. Henley & Partners, which advises wealthy clients on relocating, lists safety, lifestyle factors such as climate, and healthcare among the common reasons millionaires move, and its 2024 report cited the U.K.\u2019s \u201cdeteriorating\u201d healthcare system and \u201cincreasing safety concerns\u201d in cities like London as drivers of its millionaire exodus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And much like the expats Stanley has come across, the ultra-wealthy are also eyeing up Switzerland, where the tax bills are comparatively low, the healthcare is smoother and the views are straight off a postcard. Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal<\/a> has just left Britain after three decades for the Alps, which is now also home to hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard and Ipsen heiress Anne Beaufour, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not just Britain\u2019s billionaires voting with their feet and taking $160 billion with them to the likes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[11346,134,527,917,263,8751,37476,2686,111,139,69,2029,1769,11223,1613,3912,22891],"class_list":["post-631697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-billionaires","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-immigration","tag-lifestyle","tag-migration","tag-millionaires","tag-moving","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-spain","tag-switzerland","tag-u-k","tag-uk","tag-wealth","tag-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}