Last Thursday I went along to the APSCo licensing debate. I was going to write a review of the debate but a) I missed the very start and b) I see that Gary King from the Recruitment Consultant has done a nice summary on their site.
However, I got a copy of the voting results from Mo from APSCo and I thought I'd share the highlights of them here:
What do you believe to be the main advantage of recruitment sector licensing?
52% Outlaw "rogue" agencies
25% Improved standards
What do you believe to be the main disadvantage of recruitment sector licensing?
61% Increased bureaucracy
31% Lack of teeth
(only 6% thought it would stifle entrepreneurship)
Does the current regulatory regime provide clients, candidates and investors with confidence in the compliance and professionalism of UK recruitment businesses?
49% No
41% Undecided
Do you feel that adherence to a recognised quality standard would improve the reputation of the UK recruitment sector?
60% Yes
37% No
Should APSCo explore the potential for a clearly defined, well managed and appropriately priced licensing system for the UK recruitment sector?
56% Yes
40% No
Very few people think that the current regulations protect or provide confidence to clients and candidates. Those of us who want licensing want it to outlaw rouge agencies and to improve standards in the industry. But we think it'll cause increased red tape and won't have the weight to sort out the real problems. However, only 60% think having licensing would actually improve the reputation of the industry. It was fairly split as to whether APSCo should be the ones to investigate further - but the question which wasn't asked was what percentage of the room (and people linked up via "satellite) actually want licensing!
Somone on Twitter asked if I had the REC's stance on licensing. So I asked them if they wanted to comment on my blog on the subject of the debate. They don't!
Apparently their press release "says it all":
http://www.rec.uk.com/press/news/1120
Posted by: Louise Triance | 28 June 2010 at 02:35 PM