Non-dom exodus hits London market for butlers
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The exodus of wealthy UK residents following last year’s Budget has hit the market for butlers, housekeepers and security guards in London’s largest homes.
Many of the rich non-doms who left the UK after changes to the tax regime have kept their houses but no longer had full-time staff, according to Caroline Baker, who provides management service for luxury properties.
“They want a more dial-up, dial-down solution” with staff working only when they are in residence. A full household of staff costs between £100,000 and £300,000 a year, she said.
Baker added that the downsizing of full-time staff meant it was now “easier to find good-quality, high-calibre candidates” who can start immediately.
Debbie Salter, managing director of recruitment agency Greycoat Lumleys, said the non-dom changes followed sanctions against rich Russians after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which had previously hurt the market for domestic staff.
Salter said Greycoat Lumleys, which supplies housekeepers, butlers, chauffeurs, chefs and nannies, had received 14 per cent fewer requests to fill permanent roles so far this year compared with the same period in 2024. She said the agency had about 300 open vacancies last month, down from 500 in 2021, but was now providing many more temporary staff for rich people opening their UK houses for shorter spells.
“At the higher level — the chiefs of staff, the house managers — there are not as many jobs,” Salter said.
Many wealthy individuals, such as steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and Egyptian industrialist Nassef Sawiris, have either left the UK or are planning to because of the abolition of the non-dom regime, announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in October 2024. This allowed British residents who declared their permanent home as being overseas to avoid paying UK tax on foreign income and gains.
Those who have decided to stay will see their worldwide assets potentially subject to UK inheritance tax at 40 per cent. The FT reported last month that the government was exploring reversing the IHT element of the non-dom reforms, which came into force in April, to stem the flow of people leaving the UK.
The exodus of non-doms was having mixed effects on other service industries that cater to the rich.
Kate Shand, chief executive of Enjoy Education, said the company was now providing more tutors to wealthy people who had moved abroad than before.
However, Norland, which provides nannies to wealthy families, said it had “not seen any impact” on its business from non-doms leaving the UK.
The bright spot for the domestic staff industry was Americans moving to the UK. Baker said she had gone from having one US enquiry every four months to one a week.
“The non-doms have gone but the Americans are coming and they should be embraced because they do pay for good service and they never haggle,” she said.
