UK workers earning over £1 million a year increase to 18,700

Lucia Binding10 September 2018

The number of people in the UK earning over £1 million a year has increased to 18,700 with over a third of them being Londoners, a new study has revealed.

One in 10 of the high-earners live in the affluent London borough of Kensington and Chelsea with seven per cent in Westminster and four per cent in Wandsworth, south London.

Many of the top earners were foreign business executives, investors or non-doms, according to the research by law firm Wilsons.

The report, which looked at the most recent figures available from 2015/16, added that overseas investors could be put off settling in Britain if visa rules tighten after it leaves the EU next March.

Tim Fullerlove, Partner at Wilsons, said: "London is still an attractive prospect for the wealthy, but a more welcoming culture in UK policies could help to retain its appeal.

Over a third of the UK's high-earners live in London, a new study reveals
Getty Images

"Wealthy business executives, investors and non-doms from overseas are a boon for the UK economy, paying large amounts of taxes in the capital and generating job creation.

"Many high earners regard the UK as one of the most secure countries in which to hold their assets.

"There is now a danger, however, that what some commentators are calling the 'golden goose' of wealthy investors is being taken for granted,” he added.

There are also concerns for visa rules being tightened following Brexit, which would “shut off investors from overseas," Mr Fullerlove said.

The number of £1 million-plus earners increased from 15,000 in 2014/15 to 18,700 in 2015/16, the study found.

According to official figures published last month, the UK’s jobless rate war revealed to have fallen to a four-decade low.

However pay growth has slowed to its weakest in almost a year despite the high employment rates and the biggest annual drop in workers from the EU since modern records began more than 20 years ago.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in