The government's Managed Service Company legislation is still causing uncertainty and confusion, and is having the exact opposite effect to what was intended, the October meeting of the Recruitment Society has heard.
As the government looks at new avenues to move the long-term unemployed into work, creative recruitment businesses are already leading the way in guiding, or supporting efforts to guide, this population into the UK's talent pool.
Agency workers are unlikely to be deemed employees of the end user following the decision of a recent Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT).
Recruitment is the "best space" to be in if you are an internet-driven advertising business, said the director of online job source Workhound. 
Recruiters have reacted with a mixture of criticism and concern to the government's new money-laundering regulations that could see individual recruiters sent to prison for up to five years (see Recruiter, 28 November 2007).
Speaking at a seminar organised by Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons in
Opportunities for UK recruiters to invest in Qatar are ripe, according to ATSCo.
The body, which represents technology recruiters, recently set up an international forum to discuss staffing opportunities outside of Europe and its first port of call was Qatar.
The recruitment industry is reeling from the government's Budget decision to remove value added tax concessions on the hiring of temporary workers from April 2009.
Over 60 recruitment agencies have signed up to the UK's first online gay and lesbian job database.
Job Search, which is being hosted by sister networking sites Circa and Velvet, is being marketed as the UK's first comprehensive online gay and lesbian job database and website.
Patricia Madde