The picture is cautious, and it's shaping how finance teams think about talent. Across the UK, vacancy estimates fell again this year: ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK, August 2026 the ONS put early estimates for May to July 2026 at 707,000 vacancies, down 6,000 (0.8%) on the previous three months. That follows a longer slide. ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK The ONS also reported vacancies down 18,000 (2.5%) over the year to April to June 2026, with decreases across most sectors.
The pull-back isn't a one-quarter blip. ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK (March 2026) The ONS recorded total vacancies down 76,000 (9.5%) in the year to February 2026, falling in 15 of 18 sectors. When external openings tighten like this, finance leaders naturally look harder at the people they already have. Why hire from scratch when a well-planned promotion or internal move can cover the same need faster?
There's a competition angle too. ONS - Vacancies and jobs in the UK The ONS also noted 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in March to May 2026, a ratio that has held steady for several quarters. More available people doesn't automatically mean easy hiring, especially for the technical roles finance teams rely on. That gap between plenty of applicants and few of the right ones is exactly why internal development is climbing the agenda.
The roles that matter most in finance are senior and regulated. GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report A 2026 GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List report found that recruitment in financial services was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) level 6 and above roles, rather than levels 3 to 5. In plain terms, firms are hiring for degree-level and higher qualified positions, not entry-level ones.
That single fact explains a lot about the shift inside. Senior, qualified roles take longer to fill and demand knowledge of the business, its systems and its regulator. An internal candidate who already understands your controls and clients starts ahead. So teams increasingly grow their own: they move a strong analyst up, build the qualification, and reserve external hiring for the skills they genuinely can't develop in time.
The wider labour market points the same way. KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs June 2026 The KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs for June 2026 tracks a subdued permanent hiring environment, which encourages employers to make more of the people they've already got. When budgets are tight and openings are scarce, internal mobility becomes both a retention tool and a hiring channel.
Start by mapping the skills you can grow versus the ones you must buy. Regulated, RQF 6+ roles, GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report which the GOV.UK 2026 report identified as the focus of financial services recruitment, often suit an internal path: identify potential early, fund the qualification, and give people the stretch work that proves readiness. That turns a future vacancy into a planned promotion rather than an open search.
Then be honest about where you can't wait. Specialist skills stay hard to source across the economy. Computer Weekly (tech recruitment outlook 2026) Computer Weekly's 2026 outlook flagged demand hotspots for AI, data and cyber security skills even in a cautious market, and finance teams need those capabilities for risk, reporting and controls. Where you can't grow the skill fast enough, hire externally and do it well: a tight brief, a fair process and a quick decision.
The teams that do best blend both routes. They fill more roles from the inside where it's smart, and they run a sharp external search where it's necessary. Speed matters on that external side, because the best specialists don't stay on the market for long.
When you do need to hire externally, we make the search quick and grounded. We search 15 million candidates, rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds, contact matched people in under a minute and can book an interview in under three minutes, so a specialist finance hire can move from brief to booked in days, not weeks. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Ready to fill your next finance role? Tell Reed.ai the brief and see your shortlist today.
