In a statement, Samantha Hurley APSCo’s operations director, said: “While these are unprecedented times, we would not expect any of our members to profiteer from what is a national crisis affecting everyone and we certainly haven’t seen any evidence of this so far.

“Professional recruitment is based on relationships and any recruiter looking to gain financial advantage from this situation in the short term is likely to see business suffer even further in the long term.” 

In a statement, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) told Recruiter: "It's essential that recruiters play their part in this national crisis. If we are asking the state for support in this difficult time, we must also make sure that we live our values. That means not exploiting the crisis situation and focusing on a reasonable return on our hard work." 

In the past, recruitment agencies have been accused of charging the NHS exorbitant fees. In 2015, Simon Stevens, NHS England CEO, promised “to clamp down on some of those agencies, who are frankly ripping off the NHS”. 

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