But migration experts treat the number with caution. While foreign visitors’ entry and exit can be tracked via visas on their passports, the number for British nationals is tracked only by surveys, which are not considered to be as accurate.
For some industries, there are plenty of reports of people leaving, says Jonathan Portes, professor at King’s College London.
“We have all seen a lot of anecdotal stuff about people going to Australia, especially medical staff,” he says. “That is certainly happening.”
Countries including Australia and the US are particularly successful when it comes to attracting migrants.
Greg Veal, a migration lawyer at Taylor Hampton Solicitors, says he has seen “marked increase” in inquiries from Britons seeking to move to Australia.
“This year, and last year, towards the end, there were a lot more people enquiring than there ever was before,” he says, attributing the change to the cost of living crisis in Britain, which was more severe than that suffered in Oz, as well as the damp summer in the UK this year.
Among his clients are Aimee, a 32-year-old trained teacher, and John, a carpenter, 36. They are moving from Kent next month with their three sons to join the 1.1m Britons already living in Australia, and are eager for the change.
“All three boys are very outdoors. Here, there are not as many opportunities or places they can do the things they enjoy without it costing a fortune,” says Aimee.
Education is on their minds, too.
“They are at a really lovely village school here, but the secondary options are very poor and there is a lot of trouble in the local schools here,” she says.
Then there is housing, which in the South East of England in particular is unusually expensive by international standards. The overall cost of living in Britain spiked higher than that in most other G7 economies and was sustained for a painfully long period.
“It is a lot more cost-efficient living out there, the wages-to-house-price ratio,” says John. “Things are more achievable out there.”
Australia is keen to have them. After a lengthy application process, interrupted by the pandemic, Aimee says the country changed its rules to make carpentry and other building trades a priority occupation.
“We got the visa the same day that happened,” she says.
Locations such as New York, which are certainly not cheap, still exert an enormous draw on young Britons, culturally, professionally and in terms of wages.
Ethan, an advertising executive who moved from London to his employer’s HQ in New York aged 27 in 2022, says the move came at a good time both personally and professionally.
“I was single, didn’t have any ties and before I settled down seemed like a good time to make the move,” he says.
“There were also monetary reasons – I had heard from friends you get paid a lot more out here.”
From the other side of the Atlantic, he can sense gloom radiating from the UK.
“Both America and the UK do not feel like they are in great positions at the moment, but looking at the news coming out of the UK, it is certainly pretty grim,” he says.
“A lot of people here still miss the UK for a lot of reasons, but there is not a lot making you want to go home.”
Student exodus
It is not just tax breaks from the likes of Portugal creating pull abroad. Rising taxes in Britain are also pushing young people away, according to entrepreneur Charlie Baron.
Now, capital gains tax is among the levies expected to be increased at the Budget later this month. Baron says it has sparked worries among tech entrepreneurs still based in London.
“I am still in touch with a lot of the founder communities in the UK and a lot of people are pretty p—– off and annoyed. People might have to move their companies abroad if that happens,” he says.
Such moves are often for the long term, too. Once a talented migrant arrives, countries tend to work hard to keep them.
