Restrictive covenant

dont_use_vistaprint

Can this be used to stop an employee leaving to work for a customer if there is no issue of competition, to protect from incurring additional recruitment fees, or can it only be used where there is an issue of competition. For example if theres a history of a large client taking consultants into different areas and they cost 10-20k per time by the suppliers to recruit, could the suppliers legally add restrictive covenants to employees to try and prevent this

Brynsam

If you've signed up to a restrictive covenant then the employer can (with some limits) generally enforce it. If you are trying to add these to existing contracts with your employees, it depends if they are willing to sign. Such covenants must be no wider than is reasonably necessary to protect an employer's legitimate business interests, which could be any of the things you have cited (and more).

getmore4less

You have to be careful you don't actually make things worse by making recruitment harder.

I used to work for a small company that had a very good reputation and attracted quality staff, interesting work and it was know that this place was a good stepping stone into the the top tier employers in the sector that were our customer/partners on projects.

Sometimes people would move and work on the same projects

If we had put in restrictive covenants to try and stop that we would have not been able to recruit the same quality of people.
Or employees would have moved anyway the customers had bigger pocket to fight any court action.

Better to look for ways to make staying more attractive or accept you are a training ground for the big boys.