The Recruitment Employment Confederation (REC) has urged the government to work with the recruitment industry to address concerns over ‘phoenix’ recruiters, firms who repeatedly abuse insolvency procedures to write off debts and set up a new business.

The REC has written to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to highlight the matter.

Fiona Coombe, the REC’s director of professional services, says: “There are occasions when it is quite legitimate for an agency that is in financial difficulty to file for insolvency. Where we have concerns are situations where this kind of ‘phoenixing’ is used systematically and repeatedly, often leaving individual workers out of pocket.  The REC already runs Companies House checks on all new corporate members and we are committed to working with government inspectors on this issue.