Tougher enforcement powers which are set to have an impact on agencies have been announced as the government cracks down on rogue recruiters.

The measures were unveiled last week at the TUC conference in Brighton, where agencies were under the spotlight.

The most immediate plan is for the number of employment agency inspectors to be doubled — the present number is 12 — plus tougher powers to get evidence and the sanction of unlimited penalties for those they catch.

Agencies which do not pay their workers the national minimum wage will face higher maximum fines.

Employers who flout the law can be fined twice the amount of the national minimum wage per day for every worker paid below the minimum wage.

Further, anyone found to be refusing to comply with national minimum wage regulations can face fines of up to £5,000.

However, Mark Boleat, chairman of the Association of Labour Providers, told Recruiter that rogue agencies would still be hard to catch. "The inspectors cannot do anything without paperwork but the problem is that there is no paperwork," he said.

"It is not a problem of documentation, it is the problem of the informal economy. Anyone who wants to pay below the minimum wage is not going to write that fact down."

Anne Fairweather, head of public policy at trade body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, told Recruiter she thought it was "useful" that the enforcement issue had been raised at the conference.

"We found it useful that the government has reinforced its commitment to enforcement as it is the TUC which is always calling for more enforcement of our industry," she said.