Banning non-competes is a hollow victory — firms will just ramp up gardening leave Legal The Prime Minister revealed last Friday that the government will curb non-compete clauses in employment contracts, a move that has raised some eyebrows in the City. But despite business pushback over yet another overhaul of employment laws, City lawyers have already been 10 steps ahead with alternatives, Maria Ward-Brennan writes. Andy Burnham, in his speech [...]
Midday Markets: Burnham’s welcome crack down on pesky non-competes Business The Midday Market report is a new newsletter from City AM, giving you fresh analysis on the City’s biggest stories straight into your inbox every lunchtime. Today, Ali Lyon outlines the positive case for Andy Burnham’s clampdown on non-competes and lengthy notice periods. You know something is wrong with the upper end of Britain’s labour [...]
Employers yearn for growth as jobs market stages ‘fragile recovery’ Economics The UK jobs market is beginning to “flicker back to life,” a new report has said, after permanent and temporary placings inched up in the last month. The latest jobs report from KPMG and recruiter REC showed permanent hiring grew for the second consecutive month to a four-year high of 50.9. Meanwhile, temporary billings also [...]
PwC expects junior hiring to ‘push back up’ across professional services despite AI fears October 7, 2026 The chief executive of PwC UK said he expects the hiring of young people across the professional services sector to “push back up”, challenging the notion that AI is replacing junior work and slowing entry-level recruitment. Marco Amitrano, the Big Four giant’s UK chief executive and senior partner of PwC UK and the firm’s Middle [...]
Aldermore puts jobs at risk in retreat from invoice finance market October 1, 2026 Aldermore is weighing a round of layoffs as it consults on plans to scale back its invoice finance business ahead of a sale, City AM can reveal. The Reading-headquartered lender is discussing plans to shrink its invoice finance division and slash the amount of customers it serves in the market, sources told City AM. The [...]
Businesses braced for wave of tribunal claims as government expands legal time limit September 30, 2026 Employers are set to face a fresh legal headache as the time limit for employees to bring claims to employment tribunals doubles, as the next phase of the reformed Employment Rights Act takes effect. From 1 October, employees will be given the legal right to take six months to bring cases to court against employers [...]
End the non-competes! Tech bosses warn ‘unfair’ rules are choking UK growth September 29, 2026 Some of Britain’s leading tech founders have called on the government to tear up “unfair” employment restrictions they say are choking growth and leaving UK startups struggling to compete with Silicon Valley. The bosses of Elevenlabs, Synthesia, Fuse Energy and a string of British AI startups have signed an open letter published on Tuesday demanding [...]
Ban non-compete clauses to ‘boost Britain’s fastest growing firms’ September 22, 2026 Rising hiring costs and difficulties recruiting talent are making it harder for Britain’s most promising companies to grow, with three quarters saying they could create at least 10 per cent more jobs if barriers to expansion were removed. New research from Enterprise Britain found the cost of employing staff has become one of the main [...]
Tech the only bright spot as job security fears climb to highest level since 2023 September 21, 2026 Job security for British workers has fallen to a three-and-a-half year low across all sectors other than IT and telecoms, according to new data from S&P Global’s UK consumer index. The findings, based on a panel of 1,500 UK households, show the level of job insecurity was at its highest since February 2023 as consumers continue to [...]
US law firms outpace London rivals in race for larger City offices September 18, 2026 American law firms with offices in London are taking up more space than their homegrown rivals as they push to aggressively expand. Since 2020, more than 70 per cent of the 22 legal firms relocating office in London took up more space as they expanded headcount, with 14 of those US companies, according to new [...]