I've not heard anything in this regard.
We've certainly recruited from outside of NATS, and continue to do so. Today 21:47
As has my unit, but like I say this was a conversation I had 3 months ago. Maybe things have changed again since. Up until that point 3 months ago we had also taken on people from outside NATS, like a number of other NATS units had done. There was then *apparently* a recruitment ban or freeze or whatever you would like to call it, that was most likely going to continue until the first part of this year. Maybe Heathrow are given special dispensation, I don't know, but that has certainly been the case until very recently at the very least.