This is the message that Neil Carberry, CEO at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), gave to an audience of recruiters this morning [10 June 2025] at the REC’s major annual conference RECLive25.

In his opening keynote address, Carberry acknowledged the challenging conditions that most sectors in the UK industry have faced during “two years of treacle” since 2023, saying: “There is no hiding that we have faced perhaps not the worst markets we have ever seen, but one of the longest runs of challenging weather ever. REC data suggests that it has now been two years of treacle for most sectors.

“We know that some of this is cyclical; the market will bounce back. Indeed, both member anecdote and our data have gently improved over the spring,” he said. “But some of it – frankly – hasn’t. There are more changes afoot.”

While expressing his optimism about the recruitment industry and current trends, he challenged his audience to up their professional game in the years to come. “I believe that all of the trends we are seeing now – all the noise in the system – are going to make trusted talent advice and fulfilment more essential to clients in the years to come,” he said.

“But we will need to change to seize that opportunity.”

He downplayed the role of technology in his talk and emphasised the need for clients and regulators alike to “do the ‘people stuff’ well” in order to get a handle on the lack of productivity that has plagued the UK. At the core of his advocacy work with government and clients is, Carberry said, the principle that value is not created “just by running a machine-like process”. He went on to say: “The people you place are not components. They are as individual as are the problems your clients face.”

Carberry continued: “There is no doubt that the scale of technological and demographic change we face over the next couple of decades is as great as any we have seen before.

“And where do you go in the world where we have returned to a picture of more risk?... Who do you trust? The specialists. In the labour market, us. The talent people. We know.

“But we need to step up to that; the ‘same old’ won’t do.”

Carberry urged the recruiter audience to explain the value they deliver and to “resist commoditised views of what we do, whether from clients chasing undeliverable things or from public officials who don’t understand the diversity of our sector”.

The latter remark echoed his earlier criticism of government health leaders who last week blasted the recruitment industry in a challenge to NHS trusts to cut back further and even “eradicate” spend on recruiters operating in the healthcare sector. Today, Carberry referred to health ministers’ comments as “last week’s disgraceful and ill-founded attack on NHS staffing partners”.

Ending his speech, Carberry reminded the audience that even in the volatile world environment and over the coming decade, “specialism and service matter. We are not deliverers of a basic process but of the most complex one of all. Matching people and client solutions… to client problems”.

“This is something to be proud of. And trusted partners will matter more in the future – not less.

“The future for all of us is in being that trusted partner. We will need to change – to evolve. But the prize is there.”

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Hydrogen TE (UK) is seeking planning permission from Kent County Council to build the UK’s first waste-to-hydrogen base at a 10-acre site in Manston, near Ramsgate. The project aims to convert household and commercial waste into clean hydrogen, significantly cutting landfill and carbon emissions.

According to a report from news site BDaily, bosses say the jobs would include skilled and graduate roles, alongside a training centre to foster local talent. The hydrogen produced will supply commercial heavy vehicle fleets and waste management operations, helping meet UK net-zero targets.

Michael Engsted, Hydrogen TE managing director, says: “This area of Kent has seen a huge depletion in jobs over the past few decades, which has forced many skilled workers and graduates to relocate.

“We are determined to help revitalise the local community by giving talented individuals a reason for staying here. We are committed to prioritising local recruitment for positions including finance, engineering and science.”

According to BDaily, the company also has plans to expand with a second plant near Newport, Wales. Joint MD Jeremy Parkin adds: “We are keen to establish the standard for plants like this, which will one day become a familiar sight across the UK.”

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The REC’s CEO Neil Carberry hit back at demands from the Department of Health and Social Care this week for the elimination of NHS agency spend, condemning the action as “another revision of a failed tactic” and “scapegoating”.

In a letter this week to NHS trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs), government health leaders termed recruitment agencies providing temporary workers as “rip-off” and threatened to “consider” legislation to force NHS bodies to cut agency spend beyond the £1bn saved in the last year.

Carberry argued: “[The NHS] has been cutting spend for years – but never solved the problem, because agency work isn’t the problem. Officials have built a system that has raised [staff] bank costs higher than agency and punished those agencies who signed up to cost controls at the expense of those who didn’t in the name of this crusade.”

He went on to say: “[This week’s statement] is just another revision of a failed tactic – and you can tell that by the way that the department refuses to even discuss the issue of agency cost with agencies themselves. They are afraid of the truth.”

Financial experts with inside knowledge of the recruitment industry have previously noted the dramatic effects of the NHS’s already lessened agency spend on recruitment consultancies serving the healthcare sector, with business activity dropping perilously. 

“Employers globally use agency staff to effectively manage employment costs and varying demand as an addition to their core substantive employees. Agencies help save money and improve service, while offering skilled professionals the working lives they want,” Carberry said.

“Today’s scapegoating statement from the government will rightly alarm the public about the impact of rushed cost-cutting on safe staffing. It also further unsettles agency workers – a vital, flexible workforce who are often taken for granted, but without whom the NHS would struggle to operate.

“The NHS needs a balanced workforce strategy. That means combining long-term investment in training and retention with a flexible approach to meeting immediate pressure and treating agencies as partners rather than as peripheral players to be blamed. We’re ready to work with the government to achieve its aims – but that has to start with an end to the name-calling,” Carberry concluded.

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The government health leaders threaten to take legislative action if further savings on “rip-off temporary staffing agencies” do not follow by the autumn.

In a letter to the trusts and ICBs, the government claims the reduced spending on agency staff in the last year has helped to improve the quality-of-care patients receive, reduce waiting lists and “enhance safety - as reducing reliance on agency staff has been shown to decrease clinical incidents”. 

The government is also linking pay rises to NHS staff to cutbacks in agency spend.

The savings are part of a package of reforms which the government says this year will allow the full funding of above-inflation pay rises to all NHS staff, including resident doctors and nurses.

Health minister Ashley Dalton and NHS England CEO Jim Mackey this week wrote to all trusts and ICBs integrated care boards to urge them to “ultimately eradicate agency spending altogether. If the government does not feel further progress has been made by the autumn, it will consider taking further legislative action.”

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting announced strict agency spending limits last November and ordered trusts to reduce their spend on agency staff by 30% in the short term. The money, he said, would be reinvested in the frontline and the wider NHS workforce.

Health minister Ashley Dalton said: “The taxpayer has been footing the bill for rip-off agencies for too long – while patients have languished on waiting lists and demoralised staff faced years of pay erosion.

“That’s why we are pledging to eliminate this squander, and through our Plan for Change we are making major progress and seeing a radical reduction in costs.”

The NHS spent £3bn on agency staff in 2023 to 2024, the government said, adding: “Recruitment agencies have charged NHS trusts up to £2k for a single nursing shift, thanks to the 113,000 staffing vacancies across the service.”

The government said that all NHS workers, including doctors and nurses, will receive real terms pay rises for the second year in a row, fully funded from central budgets.

It is funding a pay rise of 4% for consultants, speciality doctors, specialists and GPs, with dentists also receiving a contract uplift to increase their pay.

Resident doctors will see their pay rise by an average of 5.4% (a 4% rise plus a consolidated payment of £750), “and we expect the average full-time basic pay of a resident doctor will reach about £54,300 in 2025 to 2026. Agenda for Change (AfC) staff, which includes nurses, health visitors, midwives, ambulance staff, porters and cleaners, will see their pay rise by 3.6%. The starting salary for a nurse will now be around £31,050, up from around £27,050 in 2023”.

A new delivery group is being established across the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to monitor progress on tackling agency spending, and ensure trusts are taking robust action, the government said.

Trusts were previously ordered to reduce ‘Bank’ use – NHS staff who work temporary shifts at hospitals – by at least 10%, on top of strict agency spending limits across the health service. They have now been told to evaluate them against the local market to ensure they are not more than the average equivalent agency rate.

Nicola McQueen, CEO at NHS Professionals, said: “We strongly welcome today’s bold and progressive workforce policy announcement from the Secretary of State to significantly reduce external agency spending and put more investment back into patient care.

“NHS Professionals was created with the core purpose of reducing the NHS’s reliance on expensive external agencies. NHS Bank services are transforming workforce deployment, boosting productivity, and driving substantial cost reduction across the NHS.”

McQueen continued: “Last year we displaced over £680m of external agency fees across NHS trusts and healthcare organisations, providing more than 40m hours of patient care. We look forward to working closely with our NHS client trusts and partners to deliver even more savings across the NHS.”

For industry reaction, see our other story here. If you are a recruitment agency working with NHS trusts and healthcare organisations, let us know your thoughts on the government announcement.

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The UK will build at least six new munitions and energetics factories and thousands more long-range weapons to strengthen Britain’s Armed Forces and create the new jobs across the country.

In an announcement yesterday [1 June 2025], the government revealed that through the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) – published in the coming days – the UK’s defence and deterrence is being bolstered with thousands of long-range weapons and a new £1.5bn government investment in munitions and energetics factories.

Together the investment will back around 1,800 highly-skilled jobs across the UK.

The SDR recommends creating an ‘always on’ munitions production capacity in the UK, allowing production to be scaled up at speed if needed. It says the Ministry of Defence (MoD) should also lay the industrial foundations for an uplift in munitions stockpiles to meet the demand of high-tempo warfare.

“Taking the lessons from Ukraine, which shows that our military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind it, the measures will boost British jobs while improving the warfighting readiness of both British Armed Forces and industry,” the government said.

The additional funding will see UK munitions spend hit £6bn this Parliament. It follows Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, in a nod to military readiness in an era of heightened global uncertainty.

Commitments include:

• £1.5bn in an ‘always on’ pipeline for munitions and building at least six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK. Creating more than 1,000 skilled manufacturing jobs, the factories will produce munitions and energetics, which are key components of weapons, including propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics.
• Up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons for the UK Armed Forces, supporting around 800 defence jobs. 

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He will join the BBC Studios executive committee and report into Uzair Qadeer, chief people officer (CPO). 

Daw brings more than 20 years of international experience in the sports, media, entertainment and FMCG industries to BBC Studios. He spent more than a decade with the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he led the strategic and operational delivery of organisational design, talent acquisition and management, change management, employee experience and benefits and rewards for all of the NBA’s business units outside the US. 

Most recently, he was vice president and CPO of EMEA for Wella, one of the world’s leading beauty companies. Previously, he has also worked for HBO, and EssilorLuxottica.

BBC Studios is a global media company, originating from the BBC. It makes and distributes the world’s most sought-after TV programme content, as well as creating and nurturing iconic brands.

Qadeer, CPO, BBC, said: “Jermaine will be an excellent addition to our HR team and I am looking forward to welcoming him to the BBC Group. My thanks go to Helen Cooper for the superb work she did while she was interim HR director, and I wish her all the best in her new role.”

Cooper, interim HRD, BBC Studios, will remain with the company in the newly created role of transformation director, BBC Studios. She will report to Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios.

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