Record 69,300 Workers Left the U.K. — and It's Not Just About Tax

By Nathan Brooks

A record 69,300 taxpayers filed P85 forms — the paperwork that tells HMRC you're leaving the U.K. for good — in the 2025/26 tax year. That figure, up 32% from 52,000 the year before, comes from an analysis of HMRC data by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, as reported by The Telegraph. The real number is almost certainly higher, since many leavers never file the form at all.

The exodus sits alongside a wealthier one. Britain's billionaires have been voting with their feet and taking $160 billion with them to Switzerland, Monaco and elsewhere, as Fortune previously reported. The headline trigger came in March 2024, when the Conservative government announced the end of the non-dom regime months before handing power to Labour.

The tax squeeze hasn't stopped there. Households and businesses have also absorbed higher Stamp Duty on rental properties, VAT on private school fees, and rises in Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and employers' National Insurance contributions.

Is tax really what's driving workers out?

Here's where the story gets less convenient for the tax-cut lobby. Natasha Stanley, head of coaching at careers site Careershifters, has spent well over a decade helping thousands of people change careers. She can't recall a single client who left Britain for tax reasons.

"For tax purposes specifically, I can't think of anyone," she told Fortune.

So what's pulling them? According to Stanley, it's the life on offer.

"Lots of people are moving for lifestyle purposes and more sunshine," Stanley said. Some relocate to be with partners from other countries. Others, she added, are watching the NHS crumble and shopping for better national services elsewhere.

Mostly, though, people have simply had enough of grinding through grey weather. She pointed to Spain and Switzerland as two destinations where she's seen professionals relocate happily.

"Others just think, I'm done with the rat race here, and if I'm going to change career, I might as well take this opportunity to live somewhere that offers me the kind of lifestyle that I'm looking for," Stanley added.

What does the data say about quality of life?

The research backs her up. Spain has just topped InterNations' Expat Insider Quality of Life Index for the fifth year running. One in five expats there cite better quality of life as their main reason for moving. Roughly 89% say they're happy with the climate, and 83% with the quality of healthcare.

It clearly isn't the job market pulling them in. Spain ranked in the bottom ten of InterNations' index for countries to work abroad.

Even the wealthy aren't moving purely for the accountants. Henley & Partners, which advises rich clients on relocating, lists safety, lifestyle factors such as climate, and healthcare among the common reasons millionaires move. Its 2024 report cited the U.K.'s "deteriorating" healthcare system and "increasing safety concerns" in cities like London as drivers of its millionaire exodus.

Where are they all going?

Much like Stanley's clients, the ultra-wealthy are eyeing Switzerland — comparatively low tax bills, smoother healthcare and postcard views. Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has just left Britain after three decades for the Alps, joining hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard and Ipsen heiress Anne Beaufour there.

What does this change for U.K. employers and policymakers? A leaver base that's 32% bigger year-on-year, and motivated by healthcare, safety and climate as much as by tax, means fiscal sweeteners alone probably won't stem the outflow. Fixing what people actually cite — services and liveability — is the harder, slower trade.