UK job vacancies have fallen to their lowest level in five years, driven by a sharp pullback in recruitment among smaller businesses. The Office for National Statistics says small firms are citing labour and operating costs as the primary reasons for scaling back hiring plans.
The decline reflects a broader pattern of caution across the private sector. A quarterly survey of more than 2,000 businesses by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found private sector employment intentions at +11, the weakest reading outside the pandemic. Just 57 per cent of private employers plan to hire in the next three months, matching a joint low, while the net employment balance sits at +9.
Redundancies have not risen. Instead, the market has settled into what the CIPD describes as a "low hire, low fire" stall. Only 26 per cent of employers expect staffing levels to increase in the coming quarter, while 17 per cent anticipate a decrease and nearly half foresee no change. Recruitment intentions have barely moved since spring 2025, with employer confidence hovering near its lowest point outside the pandemic.