Restrictive covenants in a UK employment contract are enforceable only if they protect a legitimate business interest and go no further than reasonably necessary to protect it. Courts start from the position that any clause restraining you from earning a living is void, and it is your employer who has to justify it. In practice, that means many of the clauses employees worry about, especially broad non-competes, would struggle to survive a challenge.

That is not the same as saying you can ignore them. An overreaching covenant can still cost you a job offer, a legal bill, or a year of second-guessing. This guide explains the four types of restrictive covenant, the test UK courts apply, what to check before you sign, and what to do if a clause looks wider than it should be.

Key Takeaways

UK courts treat post-termination restrictions as an unlawful restraint of trade unless the employer shows a legitimate business interest and a clause that goes no further than reasonably necessary to protect it.

There are four main types: non-compete, non-solicitation, non-dealing and non-poaching. Each is assessed separately, so one falling does not take the others with it.

Duration, geography, the definition of "competitor" and your seniority all feed the reasonableness test. Six months is commonly defensible for senior roles; 12 months needs real justification.

Courts will not rewrite a badly drafted clause to save it, though they can sometimes sever the offending words (Tillman v Egon Zehnder [2019] UKSC 32).

A statutory cap on non-competes has been consulted on, but as of July 2026 nothing has changed in the law.

What is a restrictive covenant in an employment contract?

A restrictive covenant is a clause that limits what you can do after your employment ends: who you can work for, which clients you can deal with, and which colleagues you can recruit. They usually sit near the end of the contract, under headings like "Post-Termination Restrictions" or simply "Restrictions".

Employers use them to stop departing employees walking out with the things the business considers its own: client relationships, confidential information, and the rest of the team. That is a legitimate aim in principle; the legal argument is almost always about whether the specific clause goes further than the aim requires.

Restrictive covenants are not the same as confidentiality clauses (which protect information and can last indefinitely) or garden leave (which keeps you employed, paid and out of the market during notice). Restrictions can also hide in other documents. If your concern is a confidentiality agreement rather than your contract, see our guide on whether an NDA can stop you working for competitors.

The four types of restrictive covenant (and which one you have)

Most UK employment contracts use some combination of four restrictions. Identifying which ones you actually have is the first step, because they carry very different weight in court.

Covenant	What it restricts	How courts treat it
Non-compete	Working for, or starting, a competing business	The hardest to enforce; the most direct restraint on earning a living
Non-solicitation	Approaching your former employer's clients or customers	Easier to enforce, especially limited to clients you dealt with
Non-dealing	Working with those clients even if they approach you	Enforceable, but scrutinised because it ignores who made contact
Non-poaching	Recruiting your former colleagues	Often upheld where limited to senior or key staff you worked with

A single "Restrictions" section frequently contains all four, each with its own duration. Read them as separate promises, because that is how a court will: an unenforceable 12-month non-compete can sit next to a perfectly enforceable six-month non-solicitation clause.

When is a restrictive covenant enforceable in the UK?

A restrictive covenant is enforceable when it passes a two-part test that has been settled law for over a century: the employer must have a legitimate business interest to protect, and the clause must go no further than reasonably necessary to protect it. Legitimate interests are things like client connections, confidential information, or the stability of the workforce. A general desire to avoid competition is not one of them.

Two features of the test matter enormously in practice. First, reasonableness is judged at the moment you agreed the covenant, not the moment you leave: sign as a junior analyst, and the clause is still measured against the junior role even if you leave as a director. Second, courts will not redraft a clause to make it reasonable. In Tillman v Egon Zehnder [2019] UKSC 32, the Supreme Court confirmed that a court can sever offending words in limited circumstances, but it will never rewrite the bargain. A clause drafted too wide simply falls.

Duration: how long is too long?

There is no statutory maximum, but the practical benchmarks are consistent. A 6 month non-compete clause on a senior employee with real client influence is the kind of restriction courts do uphold; 12 months is exceptional, and anything longer is rare outside the sale of a business. Citizens Advice's guidance for employees treats six months as the point at which a restriction starts to look unreasonable unless the role or industry justifies more.

One frequently missed point: time spent on garden leave often reduces the covenant period. If your contract has no express set-off clause, that is worth querying before you sign.

Geography and scope

The restriction has to map onto where your employer actually competes and what you actually did. A UK-wide non-compete on a regional sales role is doing more work than the legitimate interest requires. The same goes for scope: "any business similar to or competitive with the Company" reaches further than the specific work you did for the clients you served, and it is the broad version that fails.

Your role and seniority

The more senior you are, and the closer you sit to clients and confidential information, the more restriction a court will accept. A director with the client book is a genuine flight risk; a junior employee with no client ownership is not. If a standard template imposes executive-grade covenants on a mid-level role, that mismatch is one of the strongest signs the clause was never drafted with enforceability in mind.

Is your clause likely enforceable? A quick framework

Only a court can decide for certain, but five questions give you a well-informed judgement:

Which covenant is it? A non-solicitation clause starts from a stronger position than a non-compete.
What interest does it protect? Client relationships you personally held, or just "no competition, anywhere"?
How long does it last? Under six months is defensible territory; over 12 months needs a very good reason.
Where and what does it cover? The employer's actual market and your actual work, or an entire industry?
Did it fit your role when you signed? Covenants are judged against the job you had at signature, not the one you left with.

Compare two shapes. "For six months, you will not solicit business from clients with whom you personally dealt in your final 12 months" ticks every box. "For 12 months, you will not be engaged in any business competing with the Company anywhere in the United Kingdom", attached to a mid-level role, fails most of them.

If you are staring at your own Restrictions section and want more than a gut feeling, upload your contract to Ookulli. It flags every post-termination restriction and shows the UK law behind each flag, so you can check the reasoning yourself. The first look is free, a full review costs from £10, and your document is never used to train AI models.

Can your employer actually stop you working for a competitor?

Sometimes, but enforcement is rarer than the threatening wording suggests. Enforcing a covenant means going to court, usually for an injunction and sometimes damages, with the losing side generally paying the winner's costs. Most employers, most of the time, do not litigate over a departing employee.

What they do instead is write letters. A solicitor's letter to you, or to your new employer, is cheap and often effective, because new employers can get cold feet even over a clause that would probably fail in court. The practical risk of an unenforceable covenant is not losing a lawsuit. It is losing an offer.

So do not simply ignore a restrictive covenant on the assumption it is bluff. Understand exactly what it covers, and take advice if a real dispute is brewing. The strength of your position depends on the drafting, which you can assess long before anyone writes a letter.

What to check before you sign

The cheapest moment to deal with a restrictive covenant is before you sign it. Employers expect questions at offer stage, and narrowing a covenant costs one email now instead of a legal argument later. Check:

Which of the four covenants are present, and whether each has its own duration
The definition of "competitor" or "restricted business": named companies are fine, whole industries are not
Duration against your seniority: query anything over six months for a non-executive role
Geography: does it match where the business actually operates?
Garden leave set-off: does time on garden leave reduce the restriction period?
Client scope on non-solicit and non-dealing clauses: it should be limited to clients you personally dealt with, ideally within a defined recent period

Restrictive covenants are one section of a bigger picture. Our guide to what to check in a UK employment contract before you sign covers the other clauses that deserve the same attention. And if the document in your inbox is still an offer letter, read what to know before uploading an offer letter to ChatGPT first.

How this differs in freelance contracts

Everything above assumes an employment contract. If you are a freelancer or contractor looking at restrictions in a service agreement, the analysis shifts: courts scrutinise freelance restrictions even more closely, because a freelancer typically gets nothing in exchange for them. No notice pay, no garden leave, no severance. A restriction that might be defensible against a salaried senior employee can fail entirely against a self-employed contractor, and freelance restrictions are drafted per client rather than per employer, which changes what "reasonable" looks like.

We cover that side fully in our guide to non-compete clauses in freelance contracts. If you are an employee, stay here; if you invoice your clients, that one is written for you.

Is the law changing? The proposed cap on non-competes

Not yet, but the direction of travel is worth knowing. The government published a working paper on reforming non-compete clauses in November 2025, with responses closing in February 2026. The options ranged from a statutory cap on non-compete duration (three months is the figure most discussed) to an outright ban.

As of July 2026, none of this is law. Any change needs primary legislation, no timetable has been announced, and the reform only targets non-competes, not the other three covenant types. A clause in front of you today is judged under the rules in this article.

FAQ

Are non-compete clauses enforceable in the UK?

Yes, but only if they protect a legitimate business interest and go no further than reasonably necessary: tightly limited in duration, geography and scope, and applied to a role senior enough to justify it. Broad, long or industry-wide non-competes are likely to be void as a restraint of trade.

What happens if I ignore a restrictive covenant?

If the covenant is enforceable and your employer acts on it, they can seek an injunction and potentially damages, with legal costs usually following the result. More commonly, they write to your new employer, which can put the offer at risk regardless of the clause's real strength. Assess the clause first, and take advice if a dispute is live.

Do restrictive covenants still apply if I am made redundant?

Usually, yes. Redundancy with proper notice does not by itself cancel post-termination restrictions. The position changes if your employer dismisses you in breach of contract, for example without the notice you are owed, in which case the covenants will generally fall away. That is a fact-specific argument for an adviser, not an assumption to rely on.

How long can a non-compete clause last in the UK?

There is no fixed legal limit, but the longer the clause, the harder it is to justify. Three to six months is the defensible range for most senior roles, 12 months is exceptional, and time spent on garden leave is expected to count towards it. Duration is always weighed together with scope and geography, not in isolation.

Know what your restrictions actually say before you rely on any of this

Most restrictive covenant problems are visible on the page long before they become disputes: a duration that does not fit the role, a "competitor" definition that swallows an industry. Reading your contract with the framework above gets you most of the way to knowing where you stand.

For the rest, get your employment contract reviewed against UK law with Ookulli. Every restriction is flagged with the specific clause and the UK law behind it, the analysis takes minutes rather than a solicitor's diary slot, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee if you upgrade. Start free and see what your Restrictions section really commits you to, before you sign or before you hand in your notice.

This article is legal information, not legal advice. Restrictive covenant disputes turn on their specific facts, so if you are facing a live dispute or a solicitor's letter, speak to a qualified employment adviser.

Restrictive Covenants in UK Employment Contracts: Are They Enforceable?