What were the top recruitment news stories of 2018? For our final update of 2018 in recruitment, we have chosen the most important reports of each month from the eBoss recruitment news archives.

January: Carillion Collapses

The big news impacting the industry in January was the sudden collapse of outsourcers Carillion. With operations spread across numerous diverse sectors, the liquidation of the group left recruiters picking up the pieces for stranded employers and candidates.

Our follow-up report covered assurances from the government that certain Carillion-backed apprenticeships would be honoured. However, almost twelve months later, many ongoing projects are still dealing with the fallout from the sudden collapse.

February: Government questions gig work status

The government decided to act on workers’ rights, following the Taylor Review. The report studied the impact on unsecured labour and the so-called “gig economy”, on quality of life and productivity.

Meanwhile, the first rumblings of GDPR panic were starting to surface. eBoss lent a hand this month, as we published our Legitimate Interest Assessment Pack for recruiters.

March: Recruitment software to the rescue!

In March, we covered the unusual case of a recruitment CRM system rescuing its recruitment agency from a hefty fine.

Morson International was accused of posting misleading job adverts. But the company used data extracted from their own recruitment software database to prove the legitimacy of their adverts in their defence. The recruiters won their case.

If that is not one example of a sound return on investment for your recruitment software, I don’t know what is.

April: The Facebook data scandal

The Facebook / Cambridge Analytica data scandal broke. The controversy caused eBoss to temporarily suspend all of our commercial activity on the platform. It also created headaches for social media recruitment strategies. What was legal; what overstepped the mark?

May: A whole month of GDPR madness

May was, of course, GDPR month.

Our final countdown to GDPR day helped recruiters to prioritise their readiness scheme, and highlighted some of the key aspects of the rules.

We also launched our GDPR FAQ database, to help answer all of your specific compliance questions.

June: Gig work ruling; Brexit fatigue kicks in

2018 in recruitment has been shaped by worker status concerns. In June, we received one of our first – and most significant test cases.

The ruling against Pimlico Plumbers found that an unsecure worker should have been treated as a permanent employee. Similar cases throughout the year would ensure that the topic of worker status would remain a top story for recruiters in 2018.

We were also one of the first websites to report on the phenomenon of Brexit fatigue: the lack of interest for all news stories about Brexit. But you don’t want to read about that…

July: UK recruitment reaches peak competitiveness

The retail sector may be booming overall, but its High Street sales sector is feeling the squeeze from online sales. In July, we looked at a REC report which investigated the extent of decline in UK High Streets – and its impact on recruitment into the sector.

We also heard how one Chinese investor described the UK recruitment industry as “the most sophisticated and competitive market in the world”.

August: Full disclosure versus the GDPR

We went back to the courts for our top story of the summer. A test-case ruling helped to clarify Full disclosure obligations during the recruitment process.

With new GDPR limits to the amount of data that agencies were permitted to share about their data subjects, many consultants were cuatious about disclosing personal details. This ruling from the UK Supreme Court helped to tackle the problematic issue of what – and when – to tell clients about a candidate’s past legal entanglements.

September: Blockchain recruitment

The month began with news that the government intended to scrap two financial incentives for SMEs.

In his Autumn budget, the chancellor Philip Hammond announced the cancellation of National Insurance Contributions reductions for SMEs. In the same speech, he also suggested the removal of support for small businesses under the New Enterprise Allowance initiative. Professional bodies were quick to voice their disapproval.

We also examined some of the exciting blockchain use-cases for recruitment. In our special feature, we laid out what a future on-chain recruitment industry could mean for businesses like yours.

October: Nobody understands new tax rules – even the government gets them wrong!

The introduction of IR35 tax status changes to the private sector has been anticipated for some time. In October, it was revealed that even the government’s own departments are unable to implement the proposed changes correctly.

Experts found that support services were inadequate. One online status checker tool was giving incorrect tax advice.

But matters got even worse for the government. The HMRC was fined, after it was discovered that it had mishandled the tax status of one of its own employees.

November: What 2019 in recruitment might look like

Last month, we looked at data supporting an emerging new trend in recruiting: a Gig economy for highly skilled professionals.

Could this new class of in-demand, yet unsecured troubleshooters change the way that we approach hiring in 2019? We looked at the evidence and considered the impact.

And – while we know you hate reading about all things Brexit – we needed to talk ab out Visas. Specifically, we saw how enforcing Tier 2 visa requirements for EU workers would affect many of Britain’s most productive industries.

December: Crackdown on trial work exploitation

This month, we ended the year almost as we had started it: by placing worker status under the microscope.

With unpaid internships proving to be an incredibly reliable means of acquiring the right skills over the past decade, their popularity has increased. The government is looking to legitimise the trialling of new workers, by tracking down exploitative employers who use unpaid probationary periods as a means to gain free labour.

New guidelines provide seven ways that recruiters can protect their candidates, by looking out for unethical practices.