The biggest story in recruitment over the last two weeks is a tragedy in many respects. The Office of Fair Trading’s finding that eight recruitment companies had conspired to fix prices and its imposition of fines ranging from thousands to millions of pounds leaves us all a bit diminished perhaps as recruiters strive to improve the industry’s image to the rest of the business world.

An irony in this case is that many recruiters undoubtedly empathise with the chastened recruiters because of the situation in which they found themselves: faced with the likelihood of tighter margins imposed by a middleman, they may have thought they were taking a defensive, not offensive, position. However, the actions the recruiters took to counter their fears violated the law and this cannot be condoned; fair competition laws exist for a reason. Unfortunately, nearly four years on since the unlawful actions, the uneasy relationship between recruitment process outsourcing organisations and recruiters continues — often even when poachers turn gamekeeper and open their own RPO division.

The OFT’s action may not be the end of this incident — contracts may be lost, lawsuits may ensue. Yet the core issue itself remains an open wound.