The Prime Minister announced this morning that the government will introduce legislation on non-compete clauses. The stated purpose of the legislation is to ensure that non-competes do not operate as a ‘drag on innovation’, will no longer be a ‘barrier to hiring for our most promising start ups’ and that workers in the ‘everyday’ economy are also not prevented from moving jobs.
Beneath this headline, no further detail was given on the content of any proposed statutory mechanism. It has been reported that this is yet to be worked through, in consultation with industry. The announcement follows a previous consultation in 2025, which contained a range of potential options for reform of the law on non-compete clauses.
It is now clear that the government intends to do something on non-competes. It is not yet clear what that will be.
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