The wider UK labour market is cooling, but demand for skilled, senior roles has held up. Overall vacancy estimates dropped to 707,000 in the May to July 2026 period, a fall of 6,000 on the previous quarter, according to the ONS vacancies bulletin for August 2026. Economists describe this as a 'low hire, low fire' market, with weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, as set out in the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report.
In financial services specifically, hiring is concentrated at the top of the qualification scale. GOV.UK's Temporary Shortage List Stage 2 report found that recruitment in the sector was generally for higher-level roles at Regulatory Qualification Framework level 6 and above, rather than mid-level positions. In plain terms: firms are competing for experienced, specialist people, not entry-level headcount.
That pattern matters. When demand clusters at the senior end, a small number of hard-to-fill roles can hold up whole projects. So the story isn't just how many vacancies exist, it's which ones firms genuinely struggle to close.
Technology is the clear engine. Demand for AI skills rose by nearly 200% in a single year, with London accounting for 80% of AI-related job postings and nearly two-thirds of all UK technology vacancies, according to Accenture data reported by The Register. For a sector as London-weighted as banking and financial services, that concentration lands right on its doorstep.
The demand is broad across the tech stack, not just AI. GOV.UK's Occupations in Demand 2025 analysis lists IT business analysts, architects and systems designers, some 193,000 workers, among the occupations in critical demand, with three of five indicators flagged critical in 2025. Cyber security is tight too: the AI Labour Market Survey 2025 noted that 70% of cyber firms reported at least one hard-to-fill vacancy.
The competition for this talent is fierce. the Migration Advisory Committee's review of IT and engineering professionals found that top technology firms can pay wages well above standard thresholds for skilled migrants. When the biggest players set the pace on pay for scarce tech skills, every other employer has to think carefully about how it competes for the same people.
Start by being precise about the role. With demand focused on senior, regulated positions per the Temporary Shortage List report, a vague brief wastes everyone's time. Define the qualifications, the regulatory experience and the technical skills you actually need, then separate the 'must-haves' from the 'nice-to-haves' so you don't rule out strong people over the wrong things.
Move quickly. In a market where the best technology and data specialists are scarce and courted hard, a slow process loses candidates. Line up your interviewers early, keep the number of stages tight, and give clear feedback fast. Speed and clarity are how you win people, not just salary.
Finally, look past the active jobseekers. Many of the strongest people in finance and tech aren't scrolling job boards; they're heads-down at work. Reaching them means searching a far wider pool than the applicants who happen to find you.
That's exactly where we help. Reed.ai searches 15 million candidates to find the right people for hard-to-fill finance and technology roles, then manages recruitment end to end, from a ranked shortlist through to a booked interview. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. If you're hiring for a specialist role in banking or financial services, tell us what you need and let's find the right person today.
