Foreigners give Britain £9bn boost

IT IS the opposite of the brain-drain - an influx of senior, high-earning professionals from abroad coming to work in Britain.

And it is a phenomenon that has more than doubled over the past decade, giving the economy a £9bn-a-year boost.

Some 92,000 'executive inpats' flock to our shores each year, claims a report from private bank Coutts.

They will typically live and work here for three years and, during their stay, an employer can spend as much as £500,000 providing for the needs of them and their families.

The largest groups are from France and Germany. Americans are third, but their numbers have declined steadily over the past decade and more dramatically in the last three to four years.

About 40% of all inpats are women, the vast majority of whom are single. Engineers and technology professionals account for more than one in 10.

Neil Gordon-Lee, senior manager of Coutts' inpatriate client group, said: 'This trend is likely to continue as the key factors - such as the strength of the economy and the pound - which drive this situation are difficult to replicate elsewhere.'