Non-Compete Agreement in the UK
No UK statute caps the length of a post-termination non-compete. Enforceability rests on the common law restraint of trade doctrine, under which the clause is void unless the employer shows it protects a legitimate interest and goes no further than reasonably necessary. A three-month statutory limit was announced in May 2023 but never legislated.
Governing law
Post-termination restrictions are governed by the common law doctrine of restraint of trade, applied most recently at the highest level by the Supreme Court in Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd. There is no UK statute limiting non-compete duration.
What a non-compete agreement has to contain in the UK
The starting point is unenforceability. As the Department for Business and Trade puts it, a non-compete clause, as with any clause in restraint of trade, is unenforceable unless the employer can demonstrate it is reasonable.
The doctrine catches wide formulations, not only outright bans on employment. In Tillman the Supreme Court held that a covenant preventing the employee being concerned or interested in a competing business fell within it, rejecting the argument that a prohibition on shareholding sat outside.
A court may sever offending words but may not rewrite the clause. The Supreme Court adopted a three-part test: the unenforceable provision must be removable without adding to or modifying the wording of what remains, the remaining terms must continue to be supported by adequate consideration, and removal must not generate any major change in the overall effect of all the post-employment restraints in the contract.
There is no statutory maximum duration. The previous government announced on 10 May 2023 that it would introduce a three-month limit, but the Department for Business and Trade records that no action was taken and its November 2025 working paper reopens the question.
What catches drafters out
Drafting to a three-month ceiling on the assumption it is law. The limit was announced in May 2023 and never enacted, so duration is still assessed case by case for reasonableness rather than measured against a statutory cap.
Relying on a severance clause to rescue over-wide drafting. Tillman permits deletion of words but not the addition or modification of wording, and severance also fails if removing the words produces a major change in the overall effect of the post-employment restraints.
Non-Compete Agreement in the UK: common questions
- Are non-compete clauses enforceable in the UK?
- They can be, but the employer has to justify them. The Department for Business and Trade's November 2025 working paper states that the starting point under current law is that a non-compete clause, as with any clause in restraint of trade, is unenforceable unless the employer can demonstrate it is reasonable. In Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32 the Supreme Court confirmed the doctrine reaches even a prohibition on being interested in a competing business.
- Is there a maximum length for a UK non-compete?
- No. No UK statute caps the duration. The previous government announced on 10 May 2023 that it would introduce a three-month statutory limit, but the Department for Business and Trade's working paper of 26 November 2025 records that no action was taken and reopens the question. Length is assessed case by case against the restraint of trade doctrine.
- Can a UK court narrow a non-compete that goes too far?
- Only by deleting words, not by rewriting them. Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32 adopted a three-part severance test: the unenforceable provision must be capable of removal without the necessity of adding to or modifying the wording of what remains, the remaining terms must continue to be supported by adequate consideration, and removal must not generate any major change in the overall effect of all the post-employment restraints in the contract.
Sources
Every statement on this page is drawn from one of these. All were fetched on .
The same document elsewhere
Other UK documents
Non-Compete Agreement: the jurisdiction-neutral guideBack to Document Library