Recruitment agencies risk wasting valuable time and money if they fail to take heed of data protection regulations. This is the warning from Daniel Elkins, chief executive of TheSkillsMarket, the firm that produces the iProfile online CV.

It is one year since the regulations governing how employers treat CVs and other personal information came into effect. Good quality agencies had already put systems in place to ensure they had got individuals’ consent to hold and save job information, said Elkins.

However, agencies failing to comply run the risk of checks from the Information Commission should complaints arise. The commission also has power to enforce proper data protection checks.

“The consequence is that the people who don’t get their procedures correct give a bad reputation to the rest of the industry. Those people who are not compliant will end up wasting a lot of their valuable time,” Elkins added.