The billionaires who have left Britain

What the table shows

• Every move on it became public in 2025 or 2026. Non-dom status, which let UK residents whose permanent home was abroad pay no UK tax on overseas income they kept abroad, ended on 6 April 2025.
• Inheritance tax is the reason given most directly. Since April 2025 anyone resident for 10 of the last 20 years has their worldwide estate within reach of the UK's 40% rate. Mittal's adviser named it, and the Rich List's compiler, Robert Watts, also pointed to inheritance tax when explaining the departures (The National).
• Four of the nine gave no reason at all. David Reuben, the Livingstones, Pousaz and Howard have not said why they moved. Rokos's representative declined to comment.
• Most of the money was made in business. Three fortunes are from finance (Howard, Rokos, Björgólfsson), two from property (Reuben, the Livingstones), and one each from steel, shipping and fintech. Sawiris's comes from construction and fertiliser, built on a family firm.
• Not everyone on it came from abroad. The Livingstone brothers are British, and Rokos was born in London.

Not on this list, and why

These names appear in other lists of people who have “left Britain”. They are not included here.

• Nik Storonsky, Revolut. A company filing in October 2025 gave his residence as the UAE. A corrected filing, published in January 2026, changed it back to the UK. He has said he spends time in Dubai but does not live there. (Telegraph, 30 Jan 2026)
• Michael Platt, BlueCrest. Listed in 2026 as UAE-based, but not a recent UK departure: Bloomberg reported in December 2014 that he was moving to Jersey from Geneva. (Swissinfo / Bloomberg, 2014)
• Roman Abramovich. Sanctioned by the UK on 10 March 2022, but he had withdrawn his UK visa application in 2018. (Moscow Times, 2018; 2022)
• Herman Narula, Improbable. Said in November 2025 that he planned to move to Dubai. His fortune was put at about £780m and we found no report confirming the move. (The National, 19 Nov 2025)

A different kind of exit. Mikhail Fridman, co-founder of Alfa Group, was sanctioned by the UK on 15 March 2022 while living in London. He left for Israel in September 2023 and was in Moscow the following month. His move was driven by sanctions, not tax, so he is not ranked above. (Moscow Times, 9 Oct 2023)

What the numbers do and don't show

• The widely quoted “16,500 millionaires leaving” figure is not reliable. It comes from Henley & Partners, a firm that sells residence and citizenship services. Tax Policy Associates called the report “marketing material, not evidence”. In its 2026 report Henley stopped publishing a headcount, saying it would no longer produce “a precise count of movements that the data does not yet support”. (Tax Policy Associates; Family Office Almanac)
• Official payroll data shows departures in line with forecast. HMRC figures showed a net drop of about 1,200 non-dom taxpayers, matching the Office for Budget Responsibility's projection. (Holborn Assets; Tax Justice Network)
• That data misses the very richest. A CW Economics study estimated at least 1,800 had left, 50% above forecast, and noted that payroll returns do not capture investors who draw no salary. (CW Economics)
• Small numbers can still matter to the public finances. HMRC projects that the top 1% of income tax payers will account for 26.6% of all income tax in 2026 to 2027. (HMRC, July 2026)
• The next test is the Budget on 28 October 2026, the first since John Healey became Chancellor in July 2026. (Saltus)

How this table is compiled

• Who qualifies. A person with a reported fortune of about $1bn or more who lived in the UK and whose move abroad has been reported since October 2021.
• What counts as evidence. The person's own public statement, confirmation from a spokesman, a company filing recording a change of residence, or a report in a named publication. Each row says which.
• What we don't claim. We do not say why someone moved unless they, or a named source close to them, said so. We do not state anyone's tax residence beyond what the source reports.
• Fortunes. Quoted as published, with the publisher and date. They are estimates.
• Updates. A name is added when a move meets the test above, and the date at the top of the page changes. Spotted an error? Tell us on X at @ukdebtwatch.