Direct Line founder moves tax residence to Florida, sees "no meaningful benefit"

Sir Peter Wood, who founded Direct Line and Esure, moved his tax residence from the UK to Florida in 2025. He told The Times the change brings "no meaningful benefit" on tax.

His reasons, as he gave them to the newspaper, were houses and weather. He has owned a home in Boston for 30 years and one in Palm Beach for 20, and he said he preferred the warmer winters.

He has also been a director of Plymouth Rock Assurance in Boston for three decades and has developed property in the United States, The Times reported.

Wood said the decision was not driven by British politics or tax, though he described himself as "disappointed in all politicians". His wealth is estimated at £795m. He turns 80 next month.

On the tax arithmetic he was blunt: he said some areas were better, some worse, and that he was not sure whether he would pay more or less.

That matters because of the company he is now counted among. The Times framed the move against a run of departures by wealthy individuals and the clampdown on non-dom rules.

The rules for non-UK domiciled individuals ended on 6 April 2025 and were replaced by a system based on tax residence, according to HM Treasury. Residence, not domicile, is now the thing that decides where a bill lands.

Other departures are being logged. The property investor David Reuben has left London for Monaco, confirmed by a spokesman for the Reuben brothers.

Luke Johnson, co-owner of Gail's Bakery, told Business Matters: "It is a disaster for the country that big taxpayers and important investors are leaving."

The chancellor, John Healey, delivers his first Budget on 28 October and has said it will be "built on fiscal discipline".

Wood is not retreating from Britain commercially. He plans to launch his eighth insurance venture in 2027, starting in the motor market, backed with £5m of his own seed funding, The Times reported. The venture plans a claims office in Manchester.

He said new technology was the reason for building now, citing AI and machine learning as the chance to develop something from scratch.

For a founder weighing an exit and a move, the useful detail is the one Wood volunteered rather than the one the headlines imply. A man worth an estimated £795m, with two long-held American homes and a 30-year US directorship, says relocation did not obviously improve his position.

The residence test introduced in April 2025 means the calculation now turns on where you actually live, not where you claim to belong. That is a harder thing to arrange around a Budget, and the next one lands on 28 October.