16,000 high-net-worth individuals are set to leave Britain this year, taking with them jobs, investment and growth. Here’s how we win them back…
We talk a lot about wealth in Britain. We just don’t talk enough about what happens when it walks out the door.
Because it’s happening. And faster than anyone wants to admit.
The truth is simple: the UK is haemorrhaging high-net-worth individuals. In 2022 alone, over 12,000 wealthy residents left the country. This year it’s set to top 16,000, according to Henley & Partners. Behind those dry figures lies a fiscal timebomb. These are people who disproportionately power our economy – who build companies, fund our start-ups, buy from our shops and pay more tax than entire towns put together.
HMRC’s own data shows that the top one per cent of earners now pay 28 per cent of all income tax. That’s a staggering burden on a small group. When just 1,000 of them leave, we don’t just lose their personal tax. We lose their businesses. We lose their spending. We lose the jobs they create. And the rest of the country – already bearing the weight of a cost-of-living crisis – is left to pick up the tab.
Let’s be clear: Britain doesn’t just need investment. It needs investors.
That’s why Onward, in partnership with the Adam Smith Institute, has a bold new proposal – the Prosperity Package – to reverse the exodus and bring the world’s best builders, innovators and entrepreneurs back to our shores. This isn’t about bringing back the old non-dom regime. The Prosperity Package offers something better: a transparent, rigorous, and fair deal that says – if you want to live in Britain, contribute meaningfully to Britain, and in return, we’ll offer you the stability, access and opportunity that makes this country such an exceptional place to live and invest.
Here’s how it would work. To qualify, you invest £3m upfront into a key sector of the British economy – like clean energy, life sciences or advanced manufacturing. Then, you pay an annual £300,000 contribution to the Treasury for up to 15 years, in return for tax certainty on foreign income and assets. There’s no access to public services. No games. No grey areas. Just a crystal-clear deal that the public supports and the country can bank on.
With the Prosperity Package, you invest £3m upfront into a key sector of the British economy – like clean energy, life sciences or advanced manufacturing. Then, you pay an annual £300,000 contribution to the Treasury for up to 15 years,
Polling carried out for the Prosperity Package shows strong support across the political spectrum – including from Labour voters – with a clear majority backing this kind of principled, pro-investment approach.
The economic gains would be enormous. Independent Solow modelling projects that if just 1,000 people take up the package, it would deliver £30bn in additional GDP over a decade and nearly £13bn in tax revenues. This is investment in schools, hospitals and high streets, without raising a single extra pound from working families.
National ambition
But this isn’t just about the numbers; it’s about national ambition.
Right now, the UAE is offering tax-free golden visas. Italy charges a flat €200k and throws in tax clarity. The US has a long-standing EB-5 investor visa that has channelled billions into new jobs. And Britain? We scrapped our old investor route and botched the non-dom reforms with no credible replacement.
That’s how you get empty townhouses in Belgravia. Closed restaurants in Mayfair. Disappearing directorships in Companies House. It’s not just rich people leaving – it’s the beating heart of global capital that underpinned our prosperity.
And for those who sneer at this – who say “good riddance” – I ask: who do you think pays when they’re gone? Who fills the gap when the Treasury misses its targets? It’s not the billionaires. It’s you.
This isn’t a plea for special treatment. It’s a call for smart policy. The Prosperity Package gives Britain a tool to compete globally, rebuild trust, and get back in the game. Because in a world where capital moves faster than ever, the countries that welcome it will win – and those who don’t will fall behind.
Britain’s choice is simple: open the door to wealth that builds, or watch it walk through someone else’s.
Sir Simon Clarke is the director of Onward. Their new report, The Prosperity Package, is available at The Prosperity Package | Onward