The latest KPMG and REC survey confirms what many of us have been warning about: the UK labour market is cooling fast. Starting salaries are growing at their slowest rate since March 2021, vacancies are contracting at their fastest pace in over three years, and the availability of workers has surged to levels not seen since 1997.
Higher payroll taxes, the increased national living wage, and a subdued economic outlook are all being blamed. But there’s another silent factor at play: rapid technology adoption, including AI, is displacing mid-salary, white-collar jobs — the backbone of Britain’s middle class.
The government’s growth agenda still leans heavily on financial capital strategies — monetary easing, investor incentives, and headline GDP targets — while neglecting human capital strategies that build resilience from the ground up. You can’t squeeze more consumption, investment, or tax revenue out of citizens whose pockets are already empty.
The alternative is clear:
- Invest in re-skilling and lifelong learning so workers can adapt to new industries and technologies.
- Create meaningful employment opportunities in emerging sectors, not just low-paid service work.
- Support small business creation and entrepreneurship as pathways to sustainable incomes.
Every pound spent building human capability feeds back into consumption, raises tax revenues, and reduces demand for subsidies. It’s the same truth at both the micro and macro level — but it’s being drowned out by financial capital lobbyists who still dominate the policy conversation.
If policymakers continue to ignore human capital, the UK will remain trapped in a cycle of low confidence, low pay, and low growth.
It’s time to change the story.
Let’s make our voices heard.
Join the Academy: Your Next Chapter Beyond Regulation
You’ve spent years inside the regulated advice world.
Now it’s time to step beyond product sales — and into a role where your skill, experience, and integrity work entirely for the client, not the commission sheet.
The old model kept clients dependent, in the dark, and paying for product services.
The new era is about clarity, confidence, and conscious choice — for both you and the people you serve.
What You’ll Gain
Empowered Planning
Leave the sales pitch behind. Guide clients with flat-fee, jargon-free advice that gives them full control over their decisions and their destiny.
Purpose-Led Practice
Turn your career capital into a values-driven enterprise. Whether you serve as an educator, a mentor, or a sounding board, you’ll create impact without conflict of interest.
Conscious Leadership
Move beyond the compliance treadmill into the Aquarian age of planning — where financial wisdom meets soul purpose and your work becomes a legacy.
How To Begin
Step into the AoLP Community
→ Aaccess to resources, events, and a peer network redefining the future of planning.
→ Community Link
Book a Discovery Call
→ Explore how to align your practice with purpose — 15 minute free chat with Steve Conley.
→ Booking Page
Try The Taster
→ Take a look at a training module they didn’t teach you at adviser school – just £4.99.
→ Try the GAME Plan Taster
The future isn’t built on percentage fees.
It’s built on purpose, participation, and personal agency — for clients and for you.
Academy of Life Planning 