There's very little I can add to this but this is right on the money for London, and indeed as far as I can tell the whole UK. To provide an employer's perspect

There's very little I can add to this but this is right on the money for London, and indeed as far as I can tell the whole UK. To provide an employer's perspective: We contacted a 'trustworthy' recruiter through a recommendation, who immediately told me how ethical they were - immediate red flag. Nobody should need to tell you how ethical they are, no matter if the industry is considered one step below estate agent sales. Someone contacts me saying they heard that there was a job going, tells the recruiter to sling their hook as they already know me. The next day the recruiter calls my colleague to say they have someone but won't mention the name. Cue a game of he said she said, as the recruiter tells us that we owe them the money if we hire them. The recruiter then starts going mental and crazy about integrity and all this stuff after we stop laughing at them. I tell them I've known the guys for years, he told me that he didn't give them permission to send the CV over to us, and that he told them to sling their hook. Recruiter calls back, gives me a load of grief. In the end we don't hire the guy, which is a shame as I've known him for a long time and he's a really good chap, just lives out in the middle of nowhere. The recruiter didn't have a leg to stand on, had submitted the CV without permission, tried to tell us that we were legally obliged under their T's & C's to pay them when we couldn't see how (as the contract made no sense) and they couldn't point to a specific clause. They wanted a commitment that we'd never ever try and recruit the guy without paying them, so I just told them that it wasn't working out. We still get the odd e-mail from them. In respect of that, I've worked with some very good recruiters in the UK as well as some terrible ones, both as employer and employee.