What it is
A restrictive covenant is a clause written into a candidate's current employment contract that limits what they can do once that employment ends. The main varieties are a non-compete (bars joining or setting up a competing business for a set period), non-solicitation of clients or colleagues (bars actively approaching former clients or poaching former colleagues), non-dealing (goes further, barring any business with a former client even if that client makes the first move), and a standing confidentiality obligation that survives the move regardless of which of the others apply. They turn up most often in senior, client-facing and sales-heavy roles, which is exactly where retained and executive search mandates sit.
A covenant is not automatically enforceable just because it is written down. UK courts will only uphold one that protects a genuine business interest, such as client goodwill, confidential information or team stability, and that goes no further than reasonably necessary in scope, duration and geography. A twelve-month, nationwide non-compete on a junior sales hire tends to get struck down; the same clause on a managing director with board-level client relationships often survives. That test is applied case by case, so a covenant cannot be assumed unenforceable just because it looks broad, and a recruiter is not the one qualified to make that call.
A restrictive covenant that surfaces after submission is a placement that was already lost.
Why it matters
The risk sits with the recruiter, not just the candidate. Submit someone to a client without checking their covenants and one of three things tends to happen: the client spots it mid-process and pulls the submission, the candidate's current employer sends a solicitor's letter once the move becomes public, or worst of all the placement completes and then unravels when the covenant turns out to bind after all, costing the fee and the client relationship in one move. Executive search desks meet this constantly, because senior candidates are exactly the ones carrying the broadest covenants.
The rules are also moving. The UK government published a working paper in November 2025 consulting on a statutory cap on non-compete duration, with options on the table including three months for larger employers and six for smaller ones; the consultation closes in February 2026 and nothing has been enacted yet. Until something is, every covenant has to be read on the terms actually written, not assumed to already sit under a cap that does not exist.
How boilr handles it
boilr does not read contracts or give legal advice, that call stays with the consultant and, where the stakes are high enough, actual counsel. What it does is flag covenant risk on the candidate profile the moment a consultant notes it, so the flag travels with the candidate into every future submission rather than living in one person's memory of a conversation from months back. A flagged candidate does not get an outreach or submission task drafted silently, the consultant sees the flag first and decides.
Covenant type and, where known, expiry are recorded in the Company Brain alongside garden leave and notice period, the two restraints a covenant most often sits beside. Once a recorded expiry passes, boilr can resurface a candidate who was previously held back, so a genuine opportunity does not sit dormant just because nobody remembered to check back.
