About 50 recruitment agencies have been affected by services company Sodexho's decision to bring its permanent recruitment in-house and create a universal recruitment system.

Officials at the company, which provides food services, facilities management and vouchers to clients around the world, believed its fragmented recruitment system "lacked consistency".

Spokeswoman Clare Collins told Recruiter that "the recruitment process… had no set procedures, as recruitment was carried out by a number of parties including in-house HR teams and various agencies. "By creating one system for all recruitment we believe there will be more consistency across the various Sodexho business sectors."

A report in an HR trade weekly magazine recently reported that the decision was based on problems with catering and hospitality recruitment agency Berkeley Scott, but Collins told Recruiter that the report was not accurate. In fact, she said, Sodexho had extended the recruiter's three-year contract by six months before the decision to bring recruitment in-house.

The company continues to use seven core agencies, including Berkeley Scott, to supply temporary workers, with no changes planned.

Speaking to Recruiter about the change for permanent recruitment, Berkeley Scott director Kathryn Davies said: "We understand Sodexho's position and look forward to working with them again."