Gareth Tomkins' End of Year Review 2025

I’m sure I speak for many companies and clients alike when I say I am glad to see the back of 2025 and am now looking forward to hopefully better times ahead in 2026. Trading conditions have proven to be extremely challenging this year, which appeared to be compounded in the second half of the year in the lead up to the autumn budget.  

The UK's unemployment rate rose to 5% for the July to September 2025 period, the highest in over 4 years. and a complex business environment and uncertainty around the budget has kept hiring on ice in Q4 - the budget being so late has meant a lot of companies/clients are pushing decision making into the new year.

However, there are now signs of the market stabilising and here at Linear we have a very encouraging pipeline building for the start of 2026. We are also experiencing a substantial increase in enquiries for staff from our clients for both contract and permanent candidates, which gives us real confidence that 2026 is going to be the start of much improved trading conditions.

In the construction industry it has been a difficult year; we've seen many of our clients battling against constant delays, rising costs, planning issues, just to name a few and yet still there is a skill shortage in the industry that must be addressed to support the current growth predictions. On a positive note, the growth predictions are encouraging, and the experts have recently announced that construction work is set to bounce back over the next two years with rising housing starts and an increase in office and industrial construction being the key drivers in 2026. The growth in work is expected to be at 8% next year followed by a 13% surge in 2027. A general improving economy combined with rising public sector investments are expected to stimulate the expected growth.   

I would strongly encourage companies to work on their recruitment strategy and implement this before the year is out, otherwise if you leave it until next year, you may fall behind and miss out on the best talent that is needed to take advantage of increased opportunities. At Linear we work in tandem as partners for many of our clients and our expert consultants can assist you with your recruitment strategy. Covering both permanent and contract recruitment solutions, we are perfectly situated and have the knowledge to help you plan for the best staffing solutions to fit your needs.

In the second half of the year, Linear has continued to improve our social value contribution and increase our social value spend. All our staff have participated in various volunteering and charitable activities and for the first time ever we have put on employment workshops with the aim of helping people into work. We plan to roll more of these out in the new year so if this is of interest to you or complement your social value commitments, please feel free to get in touch.

In 2026 there are a number of legislation changes to look out for; for starters in April the National Living Wage is increasing to £12.71, we have the introduction of the Employment Rights Bill with changes phasing in from April 2025 (for day-one sick pay/paternity rights) and we have the new umbrella company legislation that is due to be introduced in April 2026. If you need any advice, more detailed information or assistance regarding the changes please feel free to get in touch and we would be happy to help.

Our latest newsletter is available now with a round up of all the things we've achieved this year. You can get your copy here. We hope you find it useful and informative.

If you require any further information or advice please feel free to contact one of our offices. I'd also like to say a big thank you to our staff, clients, candidates and everyone we have worked with in 2025.