The wider UK labour market is cautious, and insurance sits inside that mood. The Low Pay Commission describes today's market as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight rises in redundancies, and vacancies now below pre-pandemic levels the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report. So firms are hiring, just more deliberately.
Yet demand is not flat everywhere. The ONS found that the largest volume increase in vacancies over August to October 2025 came in professional, scientific and technical activities, which rose by 5,000, the category that captures much financial and advisory work ONS vacancy data for November 2025. Where the skill is specialist and client-facing, appetite holds up.
The clear shift is towards regulated advice. Firms are moving beyond scheme administration and hiring employee benefits advisers who can talk clients through workplace pensions, group risk, health cover and protection. That means qualified consultants, paraplanners who support them, and client relationship managers who keep schemes on track through the year.
This advice capability matters because the entry rungs that once fed these teams are thinner. Adzuna has recorded a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT's launch, with graduates facing the toughest market since 2018 techUK's analysis of entry-level and graduate jobs. When the pipeline narrows, experienced advisers become harder to replace and more valuable to hire.
There is a route back in, though. Apprenticeships are doing more of the training work: in AI hiring they rose from 3% of hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 the government's AI Labour Market Survey 2025. Benefits teams are watching that model too, growing their own advisers rather than waiting for the perfect finished hire.
Start with the regulated end of the role. Define which qualifications and permissions the person needs on day one, and which you will support them to gain. Be specific about the advice they will give, because a group risk specialist and a workplace pensions consultant are not interchangeable, even if both sit in employee benefits.
Then move quickly on the people who fit. In a 'low hire' market the best advisers are not on the market for long the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report, so a slow process loses them. Screen for regulatory knowledge, client empathy and the ability to explain complex cover simply. Assess how someone handles a real scheme scenario, not just their CV.
Finally, plan for growth as well as replacement. With entry-level routes squeezed techUK's analysis of entry-level and graduate jobs, pairing an experienced adviser hire with an apprentice or trainee builds capability that lasts beyond a single vacancy.
We search a database of 15 million candidates to find advisers who match your regulatory and client needs, then rank a shortlist so you can move on the right person while they are still available. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us the advice capability you need, and we'll surface people who fit.
