Recruiter special report Aug/Sept 2020- Facing the financial impact of Covid-19

Special Report

Finance

FACING THE FINANCIAL

IMPACT

OF C VID-19

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Special SpecialReport Report

nprecedented’ is one of the most over-used words when it comes to describing the coronavirus pandemic. But as the months go by and the effects continue to be felt across the UK economy, and indeed much of the world, it is a word that many in the recruitment sector will agree is accurate. The largest monthly contraction in the economy on record in April, a rise in claims for work benefits faster than during the Great Depression and more than 9m workers receiving furlough payments, these are indeed unprecedented times.

However, in the midst of this tale of general economic devastation, it is perhaps the stories of individual recruiters that will have most resonance.

“I spoke to one of my clients yesterday. He had been in recruitment for maybe 35 years,” says Amanda Hobson, managing director of Easypay Services, a company that provides funding to recruitment agencies. “He is probably five years away from retirement, and basically he said that if he was closer to retirement he would pack it in. He has about 20 temps out when he would normally have 120 out. He has had the £10k grant to help with small

U

As the economy starts to slowly emerge from lockdown, Colin Cottell looks at how recruitment is faring financially

business rates, which is a great help, but he needs 50 temps out to break even, and although things are gradually picking up, he is still losing money.”

Heartbreaking stories such as this are not confined to this construction recruiter, of course.

According to Hobson, as the effects of the lockdown

began to bite, at one point half of her 80 recruitment industry clients had no business at all. A survey of Recruiter readers conducted during the lockdown confirms the everyday experiences of recruiters up and down the country, with 74% saying the pandemic “has

9 MILLION

workers have received furlough payments 26 RECRUITER

negatively affected my business”. And while 13% said their business was “faring well financially” or “faring ok”, 9% admitted that they “may need to shut down”.

“A number of recruiters have seen activity levels drop off quite substantially, in April and May – maybe 50% of the level in March,” says Mark Cardiff, partner, recruitment sector lead, at business advisory firm BDO. “These are important lead indicators of profits and revenue six to eight months down the track.”

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S P ECI A L F EAT URE: GA M E C H A N G E R S 2020

Finance

Recruiters in areas such as healthcare, logistics and pharmaceuticals have fared relatively well compared to hospitality, travel and leisure

Although recruiters in areas such as healthcare, logistics and pharmaceuticals have done relatively well, other sectors such as retail, hospitality, travel and leisure are still bumping along the bottom at best, with little sign of recovery. According to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s (REC) ‘Report on Jobs’ published in June, following record drops in April, there were “further marked drops” in both permanent and temp billing in May. And although APSCo’s (Association of Professional Staffing Companies) Covid-19 London Vacancy Tracker, published in June, showed a small increase in recruitment activity of 1.8% in May when compared to the first quarter of the year, APSCo said job openings remained “significantly down”.

Even as the UK begins to open up areas of the economy, it is clear recruiters are not out of the woods yet, with figures showing the number of vacancies dropping to 318,000 in May, less than half the number of vacancies in March. In comparison even during the 2008-09 financial crisis, the number of vacancies never fell below 400,000.

However, amidst all the doom and gloom, according to those that provide recruiters with financial support and advice, there is much that recruiters can do to ensure that they not only mitigate the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but emerge ready to take advantage of the undoubted opportunities that will

“I am not saying that there aren’t tough times ahead and that there won’t be tough decisions, but what I am saying is that you can mitigate these by having really strong, robust plans” ALEX ARNOT is founder of MyNonExec and board adviser to more than 30 recruitment companies

certainly arise. Alex Arnot, non-executive director and adviser to more than 30 tech and talent businesses, strikes an optimistic note.

“I am not saying that there aren’t tough times ahead and that there won’t be tough decisions, but what I am saying is that you can mitigate these by having really strong, robust plans.

Things will improve, we will come out of this. But it’s the smart people who start planning now who are the ones who are going to take that ‘first mover’ advantage.”

I M AG E S | I STO C K /N O UN P ROJEC T

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SPE C IA L FE ATURE: GAME CHANGERS 2020

Wales 4.82% HEAD OFFICE LOCATIONS

4.55% ARE LARGE 250+ EMPLOYEES

N. Ireland England 0% 87.95%

COVID-19 CRISIS IMPACT ON RECRUITMENT We surveyed Recruiter readers on their experiences during lockdown 28 RECRUITER

23.86% ARE SMALL TO MEDIUM 31 TO 249 EMPLOYEES

Scotland 2.41%

SIZE OF COMPANIES WHO RESPONDED TO OUR SURVEY

71.59% ARE MICRO SIZED 1 TO 30 EMPLOYEES

Special Report

74%

said Covid-19 has negatively affected their business, but the business is still operating. While just under a 10th of businesses asked said they may need to shut their business down

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S P ECI A L F EAT URE: GA M E C H A N G E R S 2020

Percentage of government support initiatives that have been applied for

FASTER PAYMENT FROM CLIENTS

56%

LEASE/RENT FURLOUGH

… and received • nearly 65% CJRS/furlough • 38% Small Business Grants • 18% Coronavirus Bounce Back Fund • under 7% Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme • nearly 3% Statutory Sick Pay claim

TOP 10

24% 23%

REFINANCING OF EXISTING LOANS

TAX HELP

COST-CUTTING OVER HALF of the companies have furloughed staff, JUST UNDER A HALF put expansion plans on hold, renegotiated leases or supplier contracts and UNDER A THIRD let staff go

RECRUITMENT SECTORS OF RESPONDENTS

1 2 3 4

IT/technical Accountancy Creative/digital/media Professional services (HR, legal, transformation) 5 Engineering/Industrial/ logistics/transport

6 7 8 9

CONTRACT 60.24%

58%

TEMPORARY 44.48%

WHAT WOULD HELP YOUR FINANCIALS?

RECRUITMENT PROCESS OUTSOURCING 6.02%

• nearly 70% have applied for the government’s Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS), the ‘furlough’ initiative • over 40% for small Business Grants Fund • 29% Covid-19 Bounce Back Fund • 15% Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme • over 11% claimed back Statutory Sick Pay • under 2% applied for a Scotland-specific scheme • 1% applied for local support in Spain

Type of business offered to clients

PERMANENT 81.93%

Finance

Construction Generalist Healthcare Banking/Catering/ hospitality 10 Charity/Third sector/Public sector/Interim management

Where you went for assistance JUST OVER HALF WENT TO THE GOVERNMENT (HMRC, ETC) AND NEARLY HALF CONSULTED AN ACCOUNTANCY BUSINESS OR BANK

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PRESENTS

REVEALS ALL

THE PODCAST

INTRODUCING

OUR MAGAZINE'S VERY OWN PODCAST Featuring Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke, alongside the sector's newsmakers, this podcast provides straight talk about the issues, the events and the trends across the dynamic UK and global recruitment industry.

OUR FIRST EPISODE: IR35: Countdown to April 2021 Featuring Dave Chaplin of Contractor Calculator and IR35 Shield

WILL BE COMING SOON TO A PODCAST PLATFORM NEAR YOU...

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16/07/2020 10:11

Special Report

Finance

STRIKING THE RIGHT

E C N A L BA

As government help reduces, Colin Cottell looks at what now for recruiters hort-term measures, such as cutting costs, are vital for recruiters to survive the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on their businesses. However, it is equally important they plan for the bumps they will inevitably face further down the road, according to those who fund recruitment businesses and advise on their finances. At the same time, recruiters should keep in mind the saying ‘never waste a good crisis’, so they are ready to take advantage of the opportunities that will undoubtedly arise for those who are still standing when the pandemic finally comes to an end.

According to Miles Lloyd, CEO and founder of Milestones Consulting, one of the biggest bumps as the UK emerges from the worst of the health crisis will be the withdrawal – albeit in phases – of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention

S

Scheme (CJRS). Introduced

by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help employers avoid having to make mass redundancies, in June more than 9 million workers were receiving 80% of their pay up to £2.5k a month from the government. However, with the scheme costing £14bn a month, at the end of May Sunak announced that support for the scheme would be reduced in stages beginning in August, before ending completely at the end of October.

With nearly 65% of recruiters benefitting from the scheme, according to a Recruiter survey, Lloyd says the winding down of the furlough scheme “is quite clearly going to be a cliff-edge”. As he explains, the strain on recruiters’ own finances by having to pay their own staff will be exacerbated by clients deciding they cannot afford the cost of taking furloughed staff back on to their books.

“The level of demand for labour in the UK is going to

“The level of demand for labour in the UK is going to shrink very significantly” MILES LLOYD CEO and founder of Milestones Consulting

shrink very quickly and very significantly,” says Lloyd.

Mark Cardiff, partner, recruitment sector lead, at business advisory firm BDO, says he recognises the concerns around the withdrawal of the furlough scheme. However, he says the effects will not be uniformly felt across the sector. “All businesses are different in terms of where they are on

the spectrum of wanting to keep teams together, with some owners accepting the pain of losses to keep the business going, through to those at the harder-nosed end who will look to move to redundancy quite quickly to preserve the whole.”

Back into the fold The decision to bring back staff who have been furloughed will depend primarily of the level of trading activity, Cardiff says, but also on the sector and the country in which they operate. “The US has been substantially less affected,” he says. Cardiff says recruiters are already asking themselves whether they want to invest in their balance sheet in bringing back staff when the company may be making a loss. “Some can do this, and some can’t,” he says. Rather

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“It’s finding the right balance between retaining your key staff, maybe investing in them now – which is going to cost a few quid – but on the other hand, because they are going to be loyal to you, you are going to be ready to go from day one” STUART HUTCHISON managing director of Recruitment Accountants

than recruiters deciding to cut, say, 10% of staff across the board, he expects a great deal of trimming of under-performing teams.

The founder of a rec-to-rec firm, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he expects jobs to be slashed.

“Recruiters will use this as an opportunity to focus on having 10 really high performers instead of

30 mediocre performers,” he warns.

Mark Lindsay, founder and director at WeDo Finance, says that even when recruiters do decide they can afford to bring back staff, they need to be aware of the lead time before they can contribute to the bottom line. “If they’re relying just on invoice finance, there could be a shortage of cash until the work builds up,” he adds. For this reason, Lindsay says his company has given loans to a couple of clients who are just bringing their staff back, which they will pay back over a number of months: “This will allow them to reintroduce the staff back in to take advantage of the opportunities and build the business back up.”

Chris Smith, partner, debt advisory at Clearwater International Corporate Finance, agrees that the unwinding of the furlough scheme “will be a key worry for a lot of recruitment businesses”. It will be of particular concern for recruiters, who have long-term debt funding, either because they have made acquisitions or had a management buy-out, and who as a result are already under financial pressure.

Although the government Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) has been helpful, it is not necessarily a panacea, Smith says. “It is debt at the end of the day, and you do have to pay it back, but it should at least allow them to keep going through the period of uncertainty until their underlying sector opens up again.”

ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS Do regular cash forecasts Conserve cash by cutting costs and by cutting all but essential spending Collect the money you are owed promptly Do not stop paying suppliers: speak to them to explain your position Take advantage of the various schemes launched by the government to support businesses, and keep up to date by using government and official websites Keep in touch with your bank – let them know of any problems before they arise Ask yourself whether there is enough business to justify the additional overheads when considering bringing back staff from furlough Consider taking staff back part-time at first

Plan for the withdrawal and eventual ending of the furlough scheme Taking on a loan may save the business in the short term.

But remember, at some stage it will have to be repaid Shop around for the best deals on invoice discount and invoice-factoring finance If you can’t get the credit insurance you need, look for an alternative supplier. If you still can’t get it, ask your funder if they will provide funding without it Keep on top of your debtors, and make sure that your debt doesn’t go over 120 days, which could put funding from your invoice finance or invoice factoring provider at risk Sadly, some recruiters are likely to go out of business. Look for opportunities to grow marketshare.

IM AGES | ISTOCK /NOUNPROJEC T/ VEC T EEZY

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Finance

JULY

AUGUST 80%

No change – Government pays 80% up to £2.5k cap, employer pays 20%

SEPTEMBER 80%

As for July, but employer pays National Insurance and pension contributions

OCTOBER

70% Government pays 70% – up to £2,190, employer pays 10%

NOVEMBER

60% Government pays 60% up to £1,875, employer pays 20%

0% Scheme ends on the 31 October

How the Job Retention Scheme is being wound down However, the final quarter of the year, when the furlough scheme comes to an end, is likely to be crunch time for recruiters’ finances, Smith warns. “There’s going to be a wall towards the end of the year with a lot of banking covenants waived until then. A lot of lenders have said: ‘Just let things slide until then’, so many of these businesses coming out of furloughing are going to need working capital to get started again.”

Additional capital For those recruiters who believe they may need additional working capital to keep going, Smith advises that they need to act now. “Don’t wait to have those conversations with lenders until September or October, because there’s going to be a lot of pressure on lenders and their capital, and you might find you are at the bottom of the list.” In addition to touching base with their existing lender, Smith suggest recruiters should also be talking to challenger banks which are also CBIL-accredited.

The furlough scheme was costing the government

£14BN

a month, at the end of May Alex Arnot, an adviser to more than 35 tech and talent businesses, says he is not so sure that the industry will face a cliff-edge as the furlough scheme is withdrawn. “It’s all about planning now. So, if people put in really robust, well-thought out plans with maybe different options for scenarios A, B and C, then I think they can ride this difficult wave over the next three months.”

Even if they don’t need it now, Arnot suggests that one way to ride the wave is to take advantage of the government’s loan schemes.

“If there’s an opportunity to take on a loan, and where there are no interest payments for the first 12 months – which is obviously what the government has been offering – and if you can get those loans, there is no harm in getting it, put it into a different bank

accounts and wait to see if you need it.”

Avoid using the money as much as possible, Arnot advises, and then use it “almost as a shot in the arm to help the company accelerate away when the market gets better”.

Stuart Hutchison, managing director of Recruitment Accountants, a division of UHY Hacker, says the inevitable collapse of recruitment business over the coming months – “I fear up to 20% of businesses,” he estimates – will provide opportunities for those companies that plan effectively for ‘the new normal’.

“There will be fewer recruitment agencies and more candidates in the market, so there will be a significant amount of marketshare to be had,” Hutchison says. “It’s finding the right balance between retaining your key staff, maybe investing in them now – which is going to cost a few quid – but on the other hand, because they are going to be loyal to you, you are going to be ready to go from day one.”

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WEATHERING THE STORM Colin Cottell interviews experts in the sector to discover the secrets of surviving the pandemic ecruiters face a national and global economic maelstrom, the like of which none will have ever experienced before: at £1.95tn, the UK national debt is now worth more than its economy. And as Recruiter was going to press, the UK economy was predicted to have shrunk by 30% between March and the end of June.

Plus, much of the global economy is in sharp decline.

“It’s all about survival for now,” says Alex Arnot, a non-executive director and adviser to 30+ tech and recruitment businesses.

Recruiters must weather the storm by both securing the variety of financial support and advice available from trusted experts and taking sensible but decisive actions now.

R

WAR STORIES Advisers contacted by Recruiter for this Special Report almost unanimously recommended that recruiters facing rough seas financially during the pandemic contact their suppliers to ask for flexibility

As Recruiter was going to press, the UK economy was predicted to have shrunk by

between March and the end of June in navigating their current arrangements.

Some suppliers recognised the need for flexibility, however others did not.

For instance, Adrian Klean, managing director at ITSS Recruitment, asked the four job boards his company uses for a concession to

reflect the reduced number of jobs he now needed to advertise. However, he says his efforts to reduce costs by making savings on the 10-15% of turnover his company spends on job boards was met with inflexibility. “They simply said ‘Well, tough luck if you have got a contract with us for 12 months, and you are contracted to take 100 job advertisements, and you don’t use them well. That’s not our problem. If you don’t pay the bill we will simply cut you off ’.”

At the same time, other recruiters reported greater responsiveness from job boards. “Some have suspended payments for two months, but you can still use them. Those two months are then added to the end of the contract,” a respondent said.

In a similar attempt, Nesh Jain, MD of Maxfield Search & Selection, contacted both Bullhorn and LinkedIn to ask them to reduce the fees they charged to reflect the drop in their use caused by a fall-off in business. Faced with “wasting thousands a month on products we no longer used and that stops us hiring in the medium term, we even considered folding

what is a good business just to get out of the commitments”, Jain says.

In a prepared statement, Peter Markland, SVP of Small and Medium Business (SMB) at Bullhorn, says that after the company granted an initial request for relief from Maxfield in April, he subsequently contacted the company to explain the full extent of that relief, which left Maxfield “very pleased”.

Jain confirmed that what Bullhorn had offered “has really helped”.

A LinkedIn spokesperson Recruiter: “We are providing a range of options to help customers navigate through this situation, including offering a partial or full pause on contracts, depending on what suits customer needs best. Our relationship manager is in contact with Maxfield Search and is working to help them.”

That said, Jain told Recruiter, his company was “still paying for product we just don’t need”.

One respondent to Recruiter’s recent reader survey said that s/he was not able to receive any of the UK government’s numerous Covid-19 financial initiatives.

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“I can’t furlough myself as I’m chasing invoices pre-Covid-19, which in the rules means I’m officially working on ‘income generation’, therefore I can’t apply for fear of reprisal.

I work from home, therefore I’m not eligible for any of the grants available.”

When recruiters were asked in our Covid-19 survey what measures they had taken to keep the business going, furloughing staff topped the list of popularity, with nearly 65% taking advantage of the initiative.

However, one recruiter told us that their company had cut the pay of all staff by 20%.

How else have recruiters

responded to the crisis?

Other actions have included: ● Taking advantage of more time to renew statutory requirements such as annual accounts, similar to the six-month extension for renewing car MOTs. ● Getting advice and support to help them manage social distancing and implement return-to-work measures to help them get back to business as soon as possible. ● Reducing the number of users at a company on certain products. ● Exiting from a five-year commercial lease. ● Government support for holiday pay accrual for temporary workers.

Furloughing topped the list of measures taken to keep businesses going

INDUSTRY ADVICE: INVOICE DISCOUNT FINANCE Invoice discount finance is the financial bedrock on which many recruitment agencies rely, allowing them to bridge the period between paying their temporary workers and getting paid by the end client. This works well when the economy is strong, according to Mark Lindsay, founder and director of WeDo Finance.

But invoice finance providers say there is a problem with credit insurance.

Lindsay cites the example of a client who likes to insure their debt so that it can be repaid if the end client fails to pay. Although Lindsay’s company is prepared to fund their client to insured limits, the client’s insurance

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company are unable to give him those limits, he explains.

“There is a nervousness around insurance companies that payments are taking longer to come in, and maybe one or two companies are going to go out of business, so they are reluctant to insure the debt,” Lindsay says.

Credit insurance is particularly hard to get in the care sector, where care homes are struggling financially, as well as in hospitality,

tourism and leisure, he says, and to a lesser extent, construction.

In response to insurers’ reluctance to provide credit insurance, Lindsay’s company has taken the decision to fund a number of recruitment agency clients without credit insurance being in place. Although there is an obvious risk to his own company if a recruiter is unable to repay the amount loaned, Lindsay says he has minimised this risk by providing it only to well-established recruiters, or those with whom it has had a long trading relationship.

See ‘Advice from the experts’ (right) to find out what others in invoice financing are saying.

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in terms of accepting new prospects, with some becoming a bit more choosy about the clients they will and won’t take on,” he says. Some have decided to reduce the amount they are prepared to advance, say from 80% to 75%.

On the other hand, he says, some funders “have done almost the opposite”. For example, Optimum Finance launched a new app that gives a decision and quote within 60 seconds. “Generally speaking, invoice discount finance is as available as ever; it is just a question of knowing where to look.”

ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS WENDY ALLEN, manager at PCS Credit Management: Read the small print in your contracts. “The majority of invoice discounting and factoring will have restrictions on older debts and debtor days, with most facilities not allowing you to invoice discount a debt that is more than 120 days old. So as soon as you hit that 120-day wall, the debt funding disappears within that facility,” she says.

A £10bn government reinsurance scheme, launched at the beginning of June, is due to run until the end of the year to underwrite losses with insurers, which should help.

Restrictions on funding older debt highlights the need for I M AG E S | I STO C K /N O UN P ROJEC T

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JEANETTE BARROWCLIFFE, finance director, Meridian Business Support: “Do whatever it takes to conserve cash. Obvious measures include stopping discretionary spending on travel, entertainment and overnight stay.”

recruiters to stay on top of their debtors. “If you collect your cash on time, then you don’t have any of these issues; you don’t have the bad debt because you have collected the cash already and collected it within the covenant period. So in turn, you don’t have the funding restrictions. After all, cash is king.”

TERRY HILLIER, owner and CEO, People Group Services: “Apply for every grant available, utilise all government assistance and take the loans. Why? Because it’s extremely cheap borrowing, we’ll not see these rates afterwards. Keep the money, even if not utilised right now. It’s one-year payment free, then five or more years to repay – after which time who knows what the landscape will look like?”

GLENN BLACKMAN, marketing director, Fund Invoice: Invoice finance providers have become more cautious. “Some providers within the invoice finance space have tightened their criteria

STUART HUTCHISON, MD at Recruitment Accountants, a division of UHY Hacker Young: “Bounce Back loans are generally straightforward, but are only for a limited amount of money. It’s a quick fix for some of the smaller recruiters, with a view to then applying

for a CBIL loan.” CBIL loans are “a mixed bag” Hutchison says, a major problem being the length of the process, which takes six to eight weeks.

Recruiters who apply themselves have around a 50% success rate, often applying for too big a loan and suggests that the success rate can be boosted by using an adviser.

KAROLINA MINCZUK, director business service sector, RBS: “Get fully informed about the financial options available to you on the government’s Covid-19 hub website and that of The British Business Bank. To maximise your chances of obtaining financial support when contacting a lender, provide as much information as possible such as comprehensive historical information, an up-to-date trading update, evidence of Covid-19’s impact on the business and an overview of the business’s actions to react and take control. Also needed is a forecast or understanding of the business’s expectations for the next 12 months.”

STEPHEN PERRIN, founder, Aperio Financial Solutions: Recruiters should speak to their landlords about their rent, “not just reducing rent or not paying rent just for the forthcoming quarter, but [speaking to them] on an ongoing basis. A lot of recruiters are having conversations with their landlords”.

CHRIS SMITH, partner – debt advisory at Clearwater International Finance: Although a CBIL can be helpful, “at the end of the day it is still a loan and has to be repaid”.

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speak to an IP that your business can still be turned around even without a formal insolvency process.”

Finance options

THE LAST RECOURSE: INSOLVENCY Insolvency practitioners (IPs) familiar with the recruitment industry say that despite the dramatic hit to hiring from the pandemic they are yet to see a rise in the numbers of recruitment businesses entering insolvency.

They attribute this to the raft of measures introduced by the government to support businesses, particularly the furlough scheme. However, as this support gradually wanes over the late summer and autumn, a spike in companies in financial distress is only a matter of time.

“The pressure will return when such support is withdrawn,” says Simon Kite, an IP and a director of commercial finance services company SFP Group. “Most IPs expect to see a rise in numbers before the summer is out and recruitment is

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likely to be hard hit,” agrees Andrew Watling, a partner in restructuring and insolvency at business advisory firm Quantuma.

“The key to optimising outcomes is taking advice and engaging with funders and critical creditors,” Watling says.

“By discussing issues early and avoiding being faced with short deadlines imposed by threatening creditors, business owners have a much greater chance of succeeding in saving jobs, businesses and, in some cases, the companies themselves by virtue of the fact that they have time to explore all avenues of investment, funding and restructuring if necessary.”

“Engage early is the best advice,” agrees Kite. “Don’t let everything you’ve worked for disappear before you seek help. And have a plan.

You may find when you

An IP can help you look at cashflow and overheads, and what financing options are available. They could also help with ‘time to pay’ arrangements with HMRC. It’s also very important to protect yourself against any accusations of wrongful trading and seeking advice early on will help demonstrate you took the right steps at the right time to fulfil your fiduciary responsibilities – and it could just save your business.

Kim Rayment, a licensed IP, says depending on the attractiveness of a recruitment business to

“The key to optimising outcomes is taking advice and engaging with funders and critical creditors” ANDREW WATLING A partner in restructuring and insolvency at business advisory firm Quantuma

potential acquirers, there are a number of likely scenarios for companies in financial trouble.

“If there is goodwill in the business, if there is a competitor [interested in acquiring the business], or you think you have the ability to sell the business – ideally before it goes insolvent, or if it is attractive [to potential buyers], probably the best option is a pre-package sale or administration, whereby the administrator keeps the business running for a short period of time with a view to looking for buyer for the business.”

Attractive contracts According to Rayment, the outcome for such companies depends how many valuable and attractive contracts a recruitment business has. “If it doesn’t have many [attractive contracts] the administrator may come in make a few redundancies, retain the business and sell the remainder in trimmed down form.”

However, Rayment continues: “I’m not sure in today’s market many people will be looking to acquire a recruiter because you don’t know what the new normal is. So I think, probably, right now, if they can’t hang on, if you can’t raise cash from banks or government or loans or put money back in business or just trim the business themselves, I suspect a good number of them will just go straight into insolvent liquidation, which is effectively making yourself redundant and throwing the keys in and closing up.”

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