Recruitment and Employment Confederation Chief Executive awarded OBE at Windsor Castle by the Prince of Wales

Industry leader Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), collected his OBE at Windsor Castle, awarded for services to the economy and business, last Wednesday (14).

Widely regarded as a leading authority on employment issues, Neil’s expertise is sought by recruiters, businesses, government bodies and the media. He is a prominent voice in shaping policy to support growth for businesses and opportunity for workers. As well as leading the REC, Neil spent over a decade on the Council of the conciliation service ACAS and served two terms as a Low Pay Commissioner, working with colleagues to set the National Minimum Wage.

Neil used the occasion to draw attention to the need for the UK economy as a whole to take workforce issues more seriously. Better recruitment and talent management will help grow the economy, support workforce adaptation to new technologies and address our emerging youth unemployment crisis.

As the recognised voice of the recruitment, talent and staffing industry, Neil represents a sector that contributed more than £40 billion to the UK economy in 2024. Recruitment is a cornerstone of the UK’s Professional Services sector, which is both a domestic driver of growth and an export powerhouse for the economy. REC’s research is a major contributor to understanding our changing jobs market and future needs.

Commenting after the ceremony, Neil Carberry said:

“It was a huge privilege to receive the OBE from the Prince of Wales. It’s a moment that my family and I will treasure. But this award reflects the benefit I have had over many years of working with brilliant businesses and colleagues to improve businesses’ prospects and workers’ prosperity and opportunity. 

“Too often, business is presented as somehow grubby or amoral in our public debate. But the act of starting and growing a business that benefits your local community is a great act of public service and citizenship that deserve to be celebrated. Businesses bring energy, ideas and innovation to the UK. They provide jobs that bring prosperity and dignity to people’s lives, enabling them to achieve their full potential and show how good life would be.

“I am incredibly proud to lead REC, an organisation with a strong history, legacy and relevance to UK prosperity, and one which supports businesses that contribute more than £40 billion to our economy every year. The REC will continue to be the voice and champion of recruitment, staffing and talent management firms, helped by our hard-working, dynamic and talented team who change members’ lives for the better every single day.

“The UK economy and labour market is facing challenges right now but it is nothing that we have not overcome many times before by business and government working together. The fundamentals of the UK economy are good and it is time more people shout about it.”

About Neil

Neil Carberry was appointed as Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation in June 2018.  He began his career in recruitment in 1999, before doing a postgraduate degree in Human Resources at the London School of Economics and specialising in employment relations. Joining the CBI in 2004, he led the CBI’s work on the labour market, skills, energy and infrastructure. Neil spent a decade as a member of the council of the conciliation service ACAS and two terms as member of the Low Pay Commission, which recommends UK minimum wages. He was appointed an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List of 2025. Neil is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Company of HR Professionals. A seven-time nominee to the SIA staffing100 in Europe, Neil is also on the board and exec of the World Employment Confederation and of a Multi-Academy Trust in England. Neil is an RFU-qualified rugby referee and coach and is one of the 8000 co-owners who made Heart of Midlothian the UK’s biggest fan-owned football club.