The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) reports A Warwick Associates, Beresford Blake Thomas, CDI AndersElite, Eden Brown, Fusion People, Hays Specialist Recruitment, Henry Recruitment and Hill McGlynn & Associates all breached the Competition Act (1998).
The companies were found to have collectively refrained from entering contracts with an intermediary company, Parc UK, for the supply of staff to UK construction firms. They were also found to have collectively agreed to fix target fee rates for the supply of candidates to intermediaries and construction companies.
Instead of competing with Parc - and each other - the companies formed a cartel.
Beresford Blake Thomas and Hill McGlynn, were not fined along with the other six firms as they first provided the OFT with evidence of the cartel.
The original sum of the fines on the remaining firms was £173 million, but they applied for and were granted leniency.
Heather Clayton, OFT senior director, said: "This is a serious breach of competition law and the level of the fines reflects this. Cartels such as these can impact on other businesses, in this case construction companies by distorting competition and driving up costs. Ultimately it is the consumer and the wider economy that loses out from such behaviour."
