Senior engineer leaving for a competitor: what you can enforce

When an employee leaves to join a competitor, you can usually hold them to paid notice and to garden leave (paid time away from work during notice) if the contract has the clause. A non-compete is the weakest lever. The UK has promised to legislate, but nothing has changed in law. Read the contract first, lean on garden leave and non-solicit (a ban on poaching colleagues and clients), and start cover the same week.

What can you do in the first week?

Read the contract and any handbook before you speak to anyone. You need four things from it: the notice period, whether there's a garden-leave clause, whether there's a non-compete or non-solicit, and how long each runs. Check that any non-solicit covers colleagues and clients.

Then confirm the notice end date in writing, and that the engineer can't start elsewhere before it ends. Don't accuse them of anything. Narrow their access to what their role needs for the notice period. Confidentiality duties continue after they leave, so check what your IP assignment says about their work, and read who owns the code when someone leaves if you're unsure. Whether to counter is a separate decision, covered in whether to counter-offer a resigning engineer.

Can you put them on garden leave?

In the UK, if the contract allows it, yes. Acas describes garden leave as the employer telling the employee not to work some or all of their notice. They stay employed and get paid as usual, benefits included. Imposing it needs a contract clause, so the clause is what you're checking for.

It's your best lever. Garden leave keeps the engineer out of the competitor's office for the notice period at the cost of salary you were already paying, and it needs no court.

Speed matters if you do go to court. In Planon v Gilligan (2022), the former employer could only act once it knew its sales manager had joined ServiceNow UK, and by the Court of Appeal hearing he'd worked there about seven months. Courts weigh delay heavily when you ask for an injunction, so decide in days, not months.

Will a non-compete hold?

The UK, the Netherlands and Germany differ sharply on pay during the restriction.

Rule	UK	Netherlands	Germany
Form	No statute; common law	Written and signed	Written, signed copy handed over
Pay during restriction	No statutory rule	-	At least half last pay per year
Length limit	Reasonableness	Court can limit	Two years

UK

The government's working paper gives the starting point: a non-compete is unenforceable unless the employer shows it's reasonable. In practice that means protecting something real, such as confidential information or client relationships, and going no wider in time or scope than that needs.

Planon is the nearest case to a software engineer. The sales manager at a facilities-management software firm had a 12-month non-compete. The Court of Appeal refused the injunction without deciding whether the clause was valid. With about four months left, it judged that enforcing would hurt him more than refusing would hurt the employer, and repeated that no one has a right to protection from competition as such. Even a 12-month clause on a software role can fail at the interim stage.

Netherlands

Business.gov.nl says a Dutch non-compete is valid only if agreed in writing and signed. On a fixed-term contract it needs explicit business interests behind it. A court can void or limit it. If your Dutch engineer's contract is fixed-term and doesn't name those interests, treat the clause as weak from the start.

Germany

Under §74 of the Commercial Code (HGB), a post-contract non-compete needs written form and a signed copy handed to the employee. It binds only if the employer pays at least half the last contractual pay for each year of the restriction. §74a caps it at two years and releases the employee where you have no legitimate interest.

What does the UK change mean for the contract in front of you?

As of 14 November 2026, nothing has changed in law. The Department for Business and Trade asked for views on five options in a working paper, from time limits to a ban below a salary threshold. Responses closed in February 2026.

Then HM Treasury's Budget 2026, on 28 October, confirmed the government will legislate so non-competes are no longer a barrier to hiring for the most promising startups and scaling firms, and workers in the everyday economy aren't prevented from moving jobs. The reforms apply across the whole economy. The detailed position is promised for early 2027, before legislation.

So there's no bill and no commencement date, and the Budget doesn't address contracts already signed. Don't write "banned" in your notes.

What to do:

Don't assume the clause is void because change is coming. Today's law is today's law.
Get an employment lawyer's view on the actual clause before you spend anything on enforcement.
Write the next non-compete expecting that the 2027 position may shorten or void it.

How do you cover the work meanwhile?

Take a UK startup whose senior backend engineer resigns on day 0 to join a direct competitor. Assume one month's notice, one month of garden leave inside it, and a three-month non-compete.

If all three hold, the earliest the engineer can start at the competitor is about four months after resigning. If only garden leave holds, it's one month. Past the notice month, every covenant month is a month you may be covering the gap for nothing.

Assume 80 hours a month of interim cover for 4 months, which is 320 hours. At EUR 45-105 an hour, the senior range for HighCircl's interim senior cover, that's EUR 14,400-33,600. There's no minimum hour commitment, so cover can stop when the restriction ends or the permanent hire lands.

Germany adds a second bill. Say the last monthly pay was EUR 7,500 and the non-compete runs six months. Half the pay is EUR 3,750 a month, or EUR 22,500 across the six months, and it's owed whether or not you ever enforce the clause.

What this means for your decision

You're choosing between enforcing, negotiating and letting the engineer go. Hold them to the notice and garden leave, and use the non-compete as something to trade: release it early in return for a clean handover, if the competitor's role doesn't threaten you. Let go when keeping them out costs more in cover and goodwill than it protects.

For the next contract, draft with the early-2027 position in mind, and decide per country whether a non-compete is worth its price.

Your next step is the handover. The 30-day knowledge transfer and backfill plan covers it, and the EU contracting, employment and GDPR guides cover the contract side for the next hire. For the wider legal picture when you hire the replacement, see hiring developers in Europe: legal requirements for 2026.

FAQ

Can my employer stop me joining a competitor in the UK?

Yes, in two ways. If your contract has a garden-leave clause, the employer can keep you out of work, on full pay, for some or all of your notice. After that, a non-compete applies only if it's reasonable. Courts have said no one has a right to protection from competition as such.

Is a 12-month non-compete enforceable in the UK?

It depends on whether it's reasonable for the role. In Planon v Gilligan, the Court of Appeal refused an interim injunction on a 12-month covenant and didn't decide whether it was valid.

Has the UK banned non-compete clauses?

No. The Budget of 28 October 2026 commits the government to legislate. Nothing is in force, there's no bill, and the detailed position is due in early 2027.

Do you have to pay an employee for a non-compete in Germany?

Yes. Under §74(2) HGB, the clause binds only if the employer pays at least half the last contractual pay for each year of the restriction.

Can you put a resigning engineer on garden leave?

If the contract allows it. Acas says the employee stays employed and is paid as usual, benefits included.