Mark Drakeford MS, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
Today HMRC has published an analytical report which uses income tax data to explore intra-UK migration of taxpayers. The analysis was jointly funded by the Welsh, Scottish and UK government to inform income tax policy making.
The publication, Intra-UK migration of individuals: movements in numbers and income, uses a longitudinal dataset to track the movements of individuals and income across Scotland, Wales and other parts of the UK based on administrative tax data. The analysis covers the years 2009-10 to 2022-23. It finds that up to 2016, net migration into Wales showed a broad balance between those moving in and out of Wales but increased thereafter, as did the associated net income movements. Net migration peaked in the 2021-22 tax year, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2022-23 (the most recent year available) net migration remains positive but at a slightly lower level than in the previous year.
I welcome the second publication of the intra-UK migration analysis and the evidence it provides for future tax policy decisions.