Living in the UK
Your new everyday life, from the GP to driving on the left. Here is what matters day to day, so a Tuesday in Britain feels as easy as a weekend.
| The state | United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland; about 69.3 million people |
| Healthcare | NHS funded from taxes, GP free; on a visa you prepay a £1,035 health surcharge per year |
| Housing | Average rent £1,406 a month, London £2,338; new tenancy law in England since 1 May 2026 |
| Driving licence | An EU or EEA licence is valid for residents of Great Britain until your 70th birthday |
Understand the island before you sign the lease
Most Europeans know Britain from city breaks, box sets and the Premier League. That gets you through an evening in the pub. It does not get you through a Tuesday. Everyday life starts with questions nobody warns you about: why is there no health insurance card? Why does your house number decide your child's school? Why does the tenant pay the local council tax? And why can you only do 20 in Cardiff?
This section answers exactly those questions, plainly and with figures from British public bodies, not forum threads. We have spent twenty years helping clients arrive and settle, and we know where things tend to snag. Tax is part of the picture, but it has its own articles; here we cover the life around it.
Four countries, one kingdom, plenty of rules
The one sentence to learn first: England is not Great Britain, and Great Britain is not the United Kingdom. It sounds like pedantry, but it has practical consequences. Since the devolution acts of 1998, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own parliaments or assemblies and run health, schools and housing largely by themselves. Scotland sets its own income tax rates, prescriptions are free in Scotland and Wales, and the new tenancy rules of the Renters' Rights Act apply in England only.
The basics are in our most-read article, England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: who belongs to what, how the kingdom came together and why Wales is missing from the flag. How everyday life differs between the four is compared in our piece on the regions.
Living in the UK: every topic
From day one to daily life, with official figures as of November 2026.
The order that saves your nerves
After a great many moves, one simple rule holds: status, home, bank account, doctor, school, car. No visa or status, no flat, because the landlord has to check your right to live in the UK. No address, no bank account and no school place. And you register with a GP before you need one, not after.
Tax runs alongside all of this. When you become UK tax resident, what happens to income, pensions and assets from your home country, and whether leaving triggers anything back home are best settled before you move. That is what the UK Tax Consult with Sebastian is for, by phone, Zoom or Signal.
Arriving is everyday life. Tax is planning.
In the UK Tax Consult we look at your move to the UK from the tax side, with an eye on the country you are leaving.