Recruiters have been warned that they are not supposed to require pre-existing security clearance for vacancies unless placements are short term or very short notice.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), PCG and Cabinet Office have highlighted the fact this practice breaches guidance.

Tom Hadley, REC director of external relations, claimed that recruiters should ensure they perform contractor vetting following the acceptance of a candidate in most situations.

PCG managing director John Brazier stated: "This is not just against the Cabinet Office guidelines and detrimental to contractors, it's also clearly harmful to end users who find themselves with a severely restricted pool of talent."

He warned that too many contractors find their path to employment blocked because of inappropriate pre-employment security checks.

In other news, the REC recently highlighted the importance of IT contractors using recruiters.

Chris Richards, the organisation's policy executive for the technology group, claimed that these staff have the best understanding of the front line of the employment market.