Twelve recruitment agencies went into administration or administrative receivership in April, compared to nine in March and eight in February.

In related news, two directors of a recruitment company that has gone into liquidation, Advent Recruitment, have been disqualified from holding company directorships.

The list of administrations includes Westaff (UK), which had a turnover of £22.54m when it last reported to companies house, according to company monitoring service Business Sales Report. Although these companies have gone into administration, some may still be operating under new arrangements.

According to details published on the Insolvency Service’s website, Nicholas Mark Lawrance, and Kelly Grace Lawrance (née Emery) owed HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) £17,522 in unpaid VAT at the time the company went into administration.

The Insolvency Service states that: “During the period December 2004 to July 2007, the two directors caused Advent to trade to the detriment of HMRC in that it treated HMRC markedly differently to other creditors of Advent”.

Kelly Grace Lawrance was disqualified for three years and six months from 27 May 2009 to 26 November 2012.

Nicholas Mark Lawrance was disqualified for four years from 27 May 2009 until 26 May 2013

The Insolvency Service says that during the same period the two directors together were paid at least £1,168,797 in remuneration and loan repayments.

As Recruiter went to press, nobody at Advent, which according to its website has offices in Bristol, Cardiff and Reading, could be contacted.