Poor customer service is increasingly vying with harder legislative issues as an area of focus for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Claire Walker, the REC's head of professional standards, said the organisation's new emphasis on informal mediation work has led to more incidents of softer intervention.

She told Recruiter: "The most interesting trend to emerge over the past year is one of customer care and communication, rather than serious legislation breaches.

"Mediating with a complainant might not require a formal investigation and we hope that adding informal processes is a more responsive approach."

Walker's comments come as the REC publishes its complaints report for the first half of this year. The organisation handled 312 enquiries and complaints — an annual rise of almost 14%.

Of these, 48.6% were complaints against members, while 52.4% were against non-members, general enquiries or issues outside the REC's remit.

The second quarter of the year showed a sharp rise in the number of complaints from permanent employment candidates. Walker said these figures reflect the growth of the sector. "There is more activity and more pressure on permanent recruitment," she said.