The Office of Fair Trading has issued a fine to Construction Recruitment Agencies Hays, CDI AndersElite, Eden Brown, Fusion People, Henry Recruitment and A Warwick Associates. The total amount of the fine was £40m with Hays receiving the brunt of this fine with £30.36m.

In 2004 these agencies and BBT and Hill McGlynn “the whistle-blowers”, formed a cartel. They agreed to boycott Parc UK, a company which aimed to act as an intermediary between construction companies and recruitment agencies. Not only did they break the Competition Act 1998 by doing this but they then agreed to price fixing, something the OFT seriously frowns upon.

Senior Director of the OFT, Ms Clayton, would not breakdown the exact way the figures for the fines were decided but did mention that they were generally in proportion to the size of the company.

Chief Executive of Hays, Alistair Cox, said that the fine was disproportionate to the activities it relates to and to the way OFT has dealt with similar circumstances in the past. Other agencies such as Eden Brown, which is now owned by James Caan from Dragons Den, spoke to construction news and said he believed the fines were unfair and they may appeal the decision.

The OFT have made no apology for the level of their fines being issued and discounted the argument of their being a recession as a reason to be more lenient. Ms Clayton in fact went on to say that in these times it is more appropriate to enforce and uphold fair competition practices.