Burnham pledges law to stop non-compete clauses “trapping” workers and blocking start-ups

Andy Burnham has promised legislation to stop non-compete clauses “trapping” workers and blocking start-ups from hiring talent, in what he called the “Bosman ruling for the innovation sector”.

Speaking at the Innovation Nation Summit at Bruntwood SciTech's Circle Square in Manchester on Friday, the Prime Minister said some companies had gone “too far” in their use of restrictive practices such as non-compete clauses, leaving workers “held back and unpaid” while sitting on the sidelines.

Photograph: House of Commons, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

“I can confirm today we will legislate to make sure that non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most promising start-ups and scaling firms,” he said. “Call it, if you like, the Bosman ruling for the innovation sector, but I think it's needed and long overdue.”

Call it, if you like, the Bosman ruling for the innovation sector, but I think it's needed and long overdue.Andy Burnham, Innovation Nation Summit, 9 October 2026

Non-compete clauses stop workers joining a rival or setting up on their own after leaving a job, he said, and are “a drag on innovation” that prevents the best from being energised. He added that workers in the “foundational economy, the everyday economy” would not be prevented from moving jobs either.

The pledge follows a campaign by leading tech firms including ElevenLabs and Synthesia to limit non-compete clauses and extended notice periods. Dom Hallas, chief executive of the Startup Coalition, called it “a huge move”, arguing that mobile talent is what lets start-ups build and grow faster.

Photograph: LimeSpiked, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The Government did not set out the scope of the planned restrictions. An earlier working paper, published nearly a year ago, ranged from an outright ban to statutory duration caps and thresholds linked to salary or company size, and the detailed legislative proposals have yet to be announced.

Mr Burnham also set out three measures to make Britain an “innovation nation”: devolving funding for innovation, identifying the clusters across the UK with the potential to become truly world-leading, and pressing for more collaboration between those clusters, so the country can “punch above its weight”.

He set an ambition for Britain to make a major scientific breakthrough within a decade, naming a cure for cancer, a breakthrough on dementia and nuclear fusion. “We did it before, so why not?” he said.

With the Budget due on 28 October, he hinted at tax breaks for firms looking to grow in Britain. “If the UK wants to build global companies, we need to be globally competitive,” he said. “Too often, our best ideas are developed and scaled overseas.”