CMA issues £4 million in fines for infringements in sharing freelance pay information

The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has issued an infringement decision fining four of the UK's largest sports broadcast and production companies for anti-competitive practices relating to freelancers. 

The CMA’s decision, issued on 21 March 2025,is the first decision  relating to its investigations of competition law issues in employment practices. 

We have previously reported on the CMA's increased scrutiny of employment practices and what this means for HR professionals. As noted, anti-competitive practices in labour markets may include:

1. Non-poaching agreements – where two or more businesses agree not to approach or hire each other’s employees, or not to do so without the other employer’s consent. 
2. Wage-fixing agreements – agreements between two or more businesses to set the pay or benefits of their employees at an agreed level. This can include agreeing to the same wage rates or setting maximum caps on pay. 
3. Information sharing – where different employers share confidential and non-public sensitive information about the terms and conditions (including pay) that they offer to their respective employees. 

Anti-competitive behaviours may be formalised in writing but can also take place though informal conversations or unwritten ‘gentlemen’s agreements’.

The CMA’s decision

The CMA reaffirmed the importance of well-functioning labour markets as a driver for economic growth and productivity in its annual plan for 2025/2026 (first noted as an area of focus in its 2024/2025 annual plan). 

The CMA launched its investigation into sports broadcasting and production in July 2022 after being alerted by one of the parties. The CMA’s decision encompasses 15 separate bilateral infringements of competition law between pairs of the parties, taking place between March 2014 and October 2021. 

In each case, the parties were found to have shared competitively sensitive information concerning rates of pay for freelance workers and the companies were collectively fined a total of £4,240,356.

International enforcement

The CMA's stance reflects a wider international trend of scrutinising anti-competitive behaviour in labour markets by both governments and competition authorities. 

The Australian government recently announced its intentions to ban non-compete clauses from 2027 for workers earning less than 175,000 AUD and to close loopholes that currently allow businesses to impose no-poach restrictions that block staff from being hired by other companies and make anti-competitive arrangements that cap workers' pay and conditions. 

In the EU, the European Commission has carried out unannounced inspections (or ‘dawn raids’) at the premises of online food order and delivery companies for entering into no-poach agreements and exchanges of competitively sensitive information; and in the data centre construction sector for entering into no-poach agreements. 

The increased focus on labour markets and employment practices is set to continue. The CMA has issued guidance for organisations on how to navigate this area of law and is actively seeking to engage with employees, employee groups and trade unions to raise awareness and to help them uncover employer activities which may be in breach of competition law. The CMA has noted it intends to issue further guidance in the coming months.

How we can help

Burges Salmon has produced a short guide to competition law concerns for employers, to help understand how best to stay competition law compliant and avoid CMA scrutiny. 

Our competition and employment teams have extensive experience in this area, so please do reach out to your usual Burges Salmon contacts if you have any questions. 

This post was written by Harriette Alcock.