The broad UK labour market is quiet. Analysts describe it as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment, only slight increases in redundancies, and vacancies sitting below pre-pandemic levels Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK. That backdrop shapes how insurance teams plan their hiring: fewer roles open, so each one has to count.
Even so, professional services are a bright spot. In August to October 2025, the largest volume increase in vacancies was in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, which rose by 5,000 ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2025. Insurance sits close to that world, and it competes for the same analytical, client-facing and compliance-literate people. The monthly picture is worth watching too, with regular market updates such as the KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs tracking the pace of permanent and temporary hiring KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs June 2026.
There's a second pressure that matters for training and competence hiring: the entry-level squeeze. Firms are recruiting fewer junior people across the economy, and adjacent sectors show the pattern clearly. In engineering, for example, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a nine-percentage-point gap GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK. If insurance follows suit, the pipeline of trainees who grow into competent, sign-off-ready advisers gets thinner over time.
Insurance runs on people who can be trusted to advise, underwrite and settle claims within clear regulatory limits. Under the Financial Conduct Authority's training and competence regime, firms must recruit staff with the right skills, then assess and maintain their competence before letting them work unsupervised. So the roles that matter are the ones tied to that framework: underwriters, claims handlers, brokers, advisers, and the training and competence supervisors who oversee them.
Data literacy is now part of the job description. Demand for analytical and technical skills is rising fast across the wider economy, with one study showing demand for AI skills up nearly 200% in a year The Register (Accenture data). Pricing, risk modelling and fraud detection all lean on data, so insurance teams increasingly want people who can read a model as well as a policy.
Building competence from the ground up is also getting more structured elsewhere, which is a useful signal. Apprenticeships have risen from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 GOV.UK / DSIT – AI Labour Market Survey 2025 report. That shift toward earn-as-you-learn routes maps neatly onto insurance, where competence is developed on the job under supervision rather than assumed at the point of hire.
Start with the competence framework, not the job advert. Define what 'competent' looks like for the specific role: the qualifications, the supervised period, the assessment checkpoints and the ongoing continuing professional development. When you know exactly what someone needs to demonstrate, you can screen for the right foundations rather than a vague wish list.
Then hire for trajectory, not just the finished article. With junior recruitment tightening across sectors GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK, the firms that build talent will have the advantage. Look for people with the aptitude, integrity and learning habits to reach sign-off, and pair every new hire with a clear supervision plan and a named training and competence supervisor.
Finally, move quickly on the people who fit. In a low-hire market the strongest applicants still get snapped up, so a slow, uncertain process loses them. Speed and structure aren't opposites here: a tight competence-led brief actually helps you decide faster.
We help you find the right person fast and manage the recruitment end to end. Our AI recruitment agent searches a database of 15 million candidates and builds a ranked shortlist in under 30 seconds, contacting matched people in under a minute and booking an interview in minutes, so you spend your time assessing competence rather than sifting CVs. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Ready to build your insurance team? Start hiring with Reed.ai today.
