Recruiters could earn up to £150 per candidate for helping unemployed people at the high end of the employment market.

Tom Hadley, director of external relations at the Recruitment Employment Confederation (REC), told Recruiter that from April, job centres will refer candidates, whose last job paid £30k-£70k, to a list of recruitment agencies on a local level for extra support and guidance.

The move comes on the back of November’s signing of an agreement between the REC and Jobcentre Plus, and more professionals coming on to the jobs market.

Recruiters will be asked to advise candidates on how to prepare a CV, how to prepare for interviews, understand the local jobs market and skill transferral, Hadley said. Recruiters working in any industry could be in line for the payments, so long as they can demonstrate that they have experience and contacts in that market. Performance will be monitored, Hadley added.

“As an agency, you could group people together, so you could have six people to do a workshop and there’s a little bit of funding for you. A lot of procurement departments like to look at people that can source local labour, so it is a good calling card for agencies.”