Office of Fair Trading Issues Statement of Objections Against Construction Recruitment Companies

On 21 October 2008, the OFT issued a Statement of Objections alleging infringements of the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 against eight recruitment agencies: A Warwick Associates, Beresford Blake Thomas, CDI AndersElite, Eden Brown, Fusion People, Hays Specialist Recruitment, Henry Recruitment and Hill McGlynn Associates.
The OFT alleges that these companies agencies engaged in, first, a collective boycott of a particular intermediary for the supply of candidates to construction companies in the UK, and, secondly, an agreement and/or concerted practice to fix target fee rates for the supply of candidates to intermediaries and certain construction companies in the UK.
At this stage, it should not be assumed that the parties involved have broken the law. The OFT will decide if the law has been breached after it has reviewed any responses to the Statement of Objections.

Kassie Smith has been advising the OFT on this matter.

Please click below for more information on:
Kassie Smith QC