Pressure is mounting on the UK government to loosen non‑compete rules, with researchers, founders and investors urging officials to make garden leave optional for employees. The Department of Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) sought views last year but has yet to decide how to proceed.

In November, the government published a working paper arguing that UK startups could be disadvantaged in labour markets because of restrictive mobility clauses. Industry leaders warned that the UK risks losing world‑class talent, noting that restrictive non‑compete clauses often forbid departing employees from working for months.

Nando de Freitas, who worked at Google DeepMind for over a decade, tweeted that the current system stifles UK competitiveness, citing California’s permissive approach. He highlighted that the UK imposes 1 year garden leaves on senior AI researchers and 6 months on junior researchers, preventing them from starting new companies immediately. The tweet has been viewed over 200k times.

Other voices include Ian Hogarth, chair of the government’s AI Safety Institute; Jarad Cannon, CTO of robotics startup Humanoid; and Evantic founder Matt Miller, who noted that hiring can take up to six times longer in the UK. The working paper proposed either banning non‑compete clauses outright or limiting them to a statutory 3 months. No decision yet has been announced.