THE UK’s top office recruiter Robert Walters today sounded the all clear for a Brexit-induced freeze in the capital because of a gradual “thaw” in the market.

“We are at the point where normality returns,” said Robert Walters, who founded the business in 1985. “Once people get bored with Brexit — which is starting to happen — they will get back to normal ways of thinking about moving jobs. They were frozen in panic and now that’s thawing out.”

The company, which makes most of its revenue overseas, said UK fee income was up 16% in the final quarter of 2016 to £23.1 million, driven by its outsourcing business.

European fee income increased 15% and Asia Pacific — its biggest market — was up 3% on a constant currency basis in comparison. Group fee income jumped 11% at £76.1 million.

London lagged the regions for the period, because of higher than normal levels of activity outside the M25. Financial services recruitment, the key driver of London’s economy, continued to be “patchy,” and hadn’t changed much from previous quarters, Walter said.

The business, based in 27 countries globally, has outsourcing contracts with a number of major investment banks in the capital and puts its own people inside the banks to sift through job applications.

“If you’re a bank, you’re going to be hiring across the board and you take the view that you have a well-known name and people are going to apply anyway.

“You’re going to be deluged with applications so you want someone to handle it,” Walters said, referring to the work his outsourcing division, Resource Solutions, did.

He said that London’s finance roles were “more likely to go to New York than Frankfurt” post-Brexit because there was a lack of people with the right skills in Europe’s capitals.