UK Vacancies Just Hit a 10-Year Low: New Data Shows It's a Cost Crisis, Not a Skills Gap

LONDON, 17 September 2026. New labour market data from the Office for National Statistics shows UK job vacancies have fallen to 702,000, the lowest level since 2014 outside of the pandemic period, with small businesses directly citing the high cost of employment as their reason for not hiring.

Opvia, which builds and manages dedicated offshore teams in India for UK businesses, says the figures confirm what its own clients have been telling it for months: the barrier to hiring in the UK right now isn't a shortage of good candidates, it's the rising cost of employing anyone at all.

THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE FREEZE

702,000 - UK job vacancies in the three months to August 2026, the lowest since 2014 excluding the pandemic (ONS).
9.6% - Rise in the total cost of employing someone in the UK in 2026, driven largely by employer National Insurance changes (Employment Hero / YouGov).
£866 - Extra annual National Insurance cost alone for a single employee on a £30,000 salary, up from £2,884 to £3,750 (Employment Hero).
3.5% -UK regular wage growth, near a six-year low, even as employer costs keep climbing (ONS).

WHY THIS MATTERS

Wages are barely moving, but the total cost of putting someone on payroll keeps rising. For a small or mid-sized UK business, that gap between what an employee is paid and what they actually cost is exactly where hiring plans stall, roles go unfilled, and growth gets deferred.
“Every business we work with has a role they know they need to fill and haven't. It's rarely because they can't find the right person. It's because the true cost of a UK hire, once you add National Insurance, compliance and everything else that comes with employing someone here, no longer matches what the role is worth to them,” said a spokesperson for Opvia. “That's the exact gap our model is built to close: a single, all-inclusive monthly fee, no NIC, no compliance overhead, and a properly managed hire rather than a freelancer.”

Opvia's dedicated offshore team model gives UK businesses a full-time hire in India, managed in an Opvia-run office with a dedicated project manager, payroll, HR and statutory compliance all handled on the client's behalf, for a single flat monthly fee typically 60 to 68% below the cost of the same role hired locally. Clients still interview and personally approve every hire; Opvia does the sourcing, screening, employment and day-to-day oversight.

ABOUT OPVIA

Opvia builds and operates dedicated offshore teams in India on behalf of businesses in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, across more than 70 roles spanning technology, design, sales, marketing, finance, data and operations. Opvia is the direct legal employer of every hire, working from Opvia-managed offices, under the oversight of a dedicated project manager, for a single all-inclusive monthly fee. Learn more at opviahq.com.

PRESS CONTACT
Opvia
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opviahq.com