The wider picture is cautious. The Low Pay Commission describes the UK labour market as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, and vacancies now sitting below pre-pandemic levels the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report. In other words, employers are holding back rather than cutting deep, which makes every hire count more.
That caution sits alongside a real squeeze at the start of careers. Adzuna has recorded a 30% drop in UK entry-level job postings since ChatGPT launched, and graduates are facing the toughest job market since 2018 figures reported by techUK. For insurers, that is both a challenge and an opportunity: fewer entry routes are open across the economy, so the businesses that keep their doors open to new talent stand out.
There is demand where skills are scarce, too. The ONS found that the largest volume increase in vacancies over August to October 2025 came from the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, which rose by 5,000 ONS vacancy data for November 2025. Underwriting sits squarely in this skilled, professional space, so competition for capable people is genuine.
An underwriting assistant is the engine room of any underwriting team. They gather and check risk information, prepare quotes, manage renewals, keep records accurate and support underwriters through the decision process. It is a role that rewards attention to detail, sound judgement and the confidence to ask sharp questions. Those qualities are hard to test on a CV, which is part of why the role is tricky to fill.
The technical knowledge, policy wordings, risk appetite, regulatory rules, is also specific to insurance and often specific to each insurer. You rarely find it fully formed in the outside market. That points to a build, not just buy, approach.
There is a wider warning sign here. Across engineering, entry-level hiring has fallen to -19% while senior hiring sits at -10%, a nine-percentage-point gap a GOV.UK snapshot of entry-level hiring. When employers stop hiring at the bottom, they starve their own future senior pipeline. Insurers who keep recruiting and developing assistants now protect their underwriter bench for years to come.
Start by hiring for aptitude and attitude, then teach the technical craft. Look for numeracy, curiosity, clear communication and a habit of double-checking. Many strong assistants come from adjacent roles: customer service, claims, broking, administration or finance. Widen your net beyond insurance experience and you widen your talent pool.
Apprenticeships are proving their worth as a growth route. In AI hiring, apprenticeships have risen from 3% of hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025 the DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025. That shift shows how quickly a structured, earn-while-you-learn path can become a mainstream way to build technical teams, and insurance can apply the same model to underwriting support.
Retention matters as much as recruitment. Skills England lists digital, engineering and construction among the priority occupations expected to keep growing strongly the Skills England annual skills report 2026, a reminder that skilled people have options. Progression, mentoring and visible investment in learning are what keep your home-grown talent from walking out of the door.
Growing your own talent starts with getting the right people through the door in the first place, and that is where we come in. We search a database of 15 million candidates to find people with the aptitude, attitude and transferable skills your underwriting team needs, then manage the process end to end so your underwriters can stay focused on the work. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. If you are ready to start building your pipeline, talk to us today.
