A leaked email containing a list of hundreds of a recruitment consultant’s candidates has sparked anger among contractors.

The email, alleged to have been sent by consultant James Carrera, from London-based technical recruitment company 1st IT People, contained a job advert for IT work in the pharmaceutical industry.

He then recalled it – but had already given out the list of people looking for work in the industry in the email’s ‘To’ box.

Revealing who your candidates are is a taboo in the recruitment industry and can embarrass people whose employers may not realise they are looking for work.

An IT contractor, who wished to remain anonymous, complained about being inundated with phone calls looking for references since the email went out last year.

A spokeswoman for the Information Commission said that sending out candidate details without permission was likely to be a breach of the Data Protection Act.

“That is confidential data if they have signed an agreement saying the data would not go any further,” she said.

Sean Young, managing director of 1st IT People, part of the RDL Corporation, said: “We are looking at our systems to make sure this does not happen by design or by accident.”