The government’s planned reform to non-competes was conspicuous by its absence in the King’s Speech on 7 November 2023. There is now much greater uncertainty as to whether any legislation limiting non-compete restrictions to a period of three months will make it to the statute books.

Non-compete clauses are one type of post-termination restriction (PTR) – also known as “restrictive covenants” – that an employer may seek to include in a contract of employment. Under current law in the UK, there isn’t a fixed maximum duration of non-competes, but the government announced in May that it planned to introduce a limit of three months to any non-compete restriction. Further news on this has been eagerly awaited.

What is the delay?

You could be forgiven for thinking that the government is dragging its feet on its planned reform of non-competes. The government’s consultation on reform was first announced in the policy paper “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy” in 2020. The plan to limit them to three months was then confirmed in the long-awaited response to the consultation published in May 2023, some two and a half years later. Our article summarising the outcome of the consultation and its implications can be found here.

To become law, May’s proposed change would have to be enacted by way of primary legislation. We previously commented that there was some uncertainty as to when (or if) the reform would proceed given the government’s comment that it would proceed when “...

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