Reed.co.uk has confirmed that it has started charging a fee to high-volume users of its Freecruitment website.

Martin Warnes, head of operations, says: “In the last year, site traffic has grown by over 30%, with more than 1m unique candidates generating more than 1m job applications every month. Inevitably, this growth has necessitated continuous improvement to tools we offer recruiters and candidates, as well as ongoing upgrades to our IT infrastructure.

Warnes adds: “As a consequence, we have contacted only the highest volume users of the service, suggesting that they should make a contribution to support further improvements that will lead to a better service for all.”

However, some recruiters have criticised the move. They said it penalised high-volume users, and argued that every advertiser should be treated the same.