PCD Leeds Conference | 3 March 2026 | Aspire, Leeds

The inaugural PCD Leeds Conference opened in fitting surroundings — the grand Victorian trading hall of the former Yorkshire Penny Bank in Leeds city centre — bringing together private client professionals from across the north of England and beyond. Host Ken Chapman, Founder of Birchin Lane Wealth Advisory, struck a warmly witty tone from the outset, drawing a pleasingly tenuous connection between the Penny Bank's founding mission — promoting thrift and financial inclusion — and the collective ambition of every adviser in the room. He also made a slightly more tenuous connection to Henry Blofeld's famous commentary on the Headingley crowd: "knowledgeable, vocal, and occasionally inventive — particularly after luncheon." Chapman's wish for the day's speakers was the same, and on both counts it was amply fulfilled.

Welcome: The Isle of Man — A Strategic Choice for Your Clients

As lead sponsor of the conference, Finance Isle of Man CEO Michael Crowe had the honour of opening the day — a role he acknowledged with some pleasure, noting it was a rare treat to be in the batting order at all, let alone opening. His address was both polished and persuasive, painting a picture of the Isle of Man not merely as a well-regarded offshore centre, but as what he described as "a strategic choice for your clients' lives, legacies and long-term security."

Crowe was careful to frame the Island's appeal in terms that resonate with advisers working with HNW and UHNW clients: the decision about where to live or base a business is never driven by tax alone. "They look for stability," he said. "They look for simplicity, safety, quality of life, and for jurisdictions that genuinely understand their needs." The Isle of Man, he argued, offers all of that in one package.

On tax, the headline attractions are well-known: no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax, no other wealth taxes, and a personal tax cap that provides genuine planning certainty. For business owners and entrepreneurs, the Island's 0% standard corporate tax rate — with only banking, large retail, and certain multinationals taxed at between 10% and 15% — represents a compelling proposition. Crucially, there are no restrictions on purchasing commercial or residential property, giving family offices and entrepreneurs exceptional flexibility when structuring their affairs.

The Isle of Man's relationship with the UK adds a further layer of practical appeal. The double tax agreement, the common travel area, and the shared VAT and customs arrangements mean that UK nationals face no barriers to travel or residence on the Island, and financial flows between the two jurisdictions remain frictionless. For clients weighing relocation options, this familiarity and ease of access matters considerably.

Crowe also set out the depth of the Island's professional services sector — over fifty years of experience, more than 10,000 people employed across banking, fiduciary services, funds, wealth management, insurance and pensions, and a contribution of over 50% to national GDP. He touched on the Island's more specialist strengths: a world-leading ship and superyacht registry, an aircraft registry with a neutral M-prefix, and strong intellectual property protections.

Two forward-looking initiatives received particular emphasis. The Isle of Man's sustainable finance programme, built on its unique status as the world's first entirely UNESCO-designated biosphere nation, is developing a meaningful framework for financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. And the Data Asset Foundation Initiative — described by Crowe as the world's first legal framework designed to treat data as a trusted and investable asset — positions the Island at the very frontier of cross-border financial innovation. "It's a powerful example of how smaller jurisdictions can have a global impact," he said.

A short promotional film brought the Island's proposition to life through the voices of practitioners based there — a private banker, an insurtech specialist, and others who spoke to the depth of professional community and the quality of the regulatory environment. It was a well-judged reminder that the Isle of Man is not simply a tax address, but a functioning, well-governed place to build a life and a business.

Keynote: Wealth Planning Under Labour — The SAS Strategy

If Michael Crowe offered the morning's most optimistic vision, Chris Etherington — private client tax partner at RSM Leeds and a regular commentator in the national financial press — provided its most forensic. His thirty-minute keynote, delivered with a mix of genuine insight and self-deprecating wit, examined where Labour's tax policy has taken us, why it has unfolded as it has, and what might still lie ahead.

Etherington opened with a pointed observation: tax advisers, long the wallflowers at social gatherings, have never been more in demand. That popularity, he noted, is borne out in government statistics — when ONS published November 2025 GDP figures, accounting and tax consulting services recorded 4.6% growth and made a meaningful contribution to an economy that might otherwise have flatlined. "I'm not quite sure that's the economic growth we were all hoping for," he conceded, "but let's try and stick with the positive theme."

Speaking on the very day of the Spring Statement — since rebranded, he noted drily, as a Spring Forecast — Etherington offered cautious relief. A record £30.4 billion public sector surplus in January, driven substantially by capital gains tax receipts, has given the Chancellor more headroom than expected. But he was quick to contextualise the CGT numbers. The £17 billion received in January alone — more than the total CGT receipts in any prior full tax year — was not a sign of economic vitality. It was, he argued, a direct product of panic disposals ahead of the October 2024 budget. "Don't spend it all at once," was his wry verdict on the Chancellor's position.

His central analysis centred on what he called the SAS strategy — not a planned approach, but the de facto outcome of Labour's self-imposed tax constraints. By ring-fencing income tax rates, VAT, and nominally employee national insurance from increases, the government locked away approximately 72% of HMRC's £859 billion annual receipts. Forced to generate revenue from the remaining slice, it has resorted to stealth taxes such as frozen thresholds, additional taxes such as employer national insurance, and smaller taxes — notably inheritance tax, business property relief, and agricultural relief — that punch above their weight in terms of client impact even if their revenue contribution is modest.

Etherington shed light on the academic thinking underpinning some of the more controversial changes. Economists such as Arun Advani and David Sturrock — the latter now serving on the Chancellor's Council of Economic Advisers — have published various research that appear to underpin a number of the tax policies that have been introduced in recent years. This research, Etherington suggested, helps to provide the academic context behind tax measures. For example, with the curtailing of business and agricultural relief, some economists may support nudging business ownership towards external investors or professional management teams to improve productivity. "There may be a clear economic plan behind these changes," he noted, "but the reality is that the policy changes may be more reactive". Tax receipts needed to be found, and these were the taxes available.

Looking forward, Etherington identified two risks that keep his clients awake at night: the prospect of capital gains tax rates being aligned more closely with income tax, and the potential introduction of an exit charge on crystallised gains for those leaving the UK. Neither appears to be on Rachel Reeves' current agenda — but the influence of others within the Treasury who support such a move, remains a live concern. "Just when you thought it was safe to re-enter the water," he said, "comes the potential sequel none of us are really hoping for with storm clouds of speculation returning again". It was a cliffhanger that, given the pace of tax change over the past two years, nobody in the room was minded to dismiss.