The Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s 2007 Annual Complaints Report has revealed a continued increase in the overall number of enquiries and complaints but a significant drop in the number of serious disciplinary matters it investigated.

The number of enquiries and complaints the REC handled rose 20% from 685 in 2006 to 820 last year, while a total of 24 serious cases investigated in 2007 led to sanctions being imposed on non-compliant members – compared to 94 in 2006.

Commenting on the findings, Helen Reynolds (pictured), the REC’s acting chief executive, said: "The continued increase in the number of complaints and queries is an an indication of the increasing greater awareness of the REC’s standards role among employers and jobseekers. But the overall figure still remains extremely low in relation to our membership numbers."

As a result of the 24 investigations into serious disciplinary matters, the Professional Standards Committee issued sanctions including one reprimand, one compliance order, five inspections and accepted one resignation. Two appeals are also currently pending.

Last year, temporary workers were again the main group of complainants accounting for around 30% of all queries, a significant drop on the 50% received from them in 2006. Most of the complaints were about pay, terms of engagement, holiday pay or poor communication and customer service.

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However, queries from permanent candidates grew to 21% last year with most of them relating to communication problems with their agencies including lack of responses when applying for posts through jobsites.

Copies of the report are available from the REC website: www.rec.uk.com.