Employers plan biggest job cuts in a decade - survey

Employers are preparing for the biggest redundancy round in a decade amid collapsing business confidence as firms brace for tax increases from April that Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn budget.

- Phillip Inman

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which represents human resources professionals, said its survey of 2,000 employers showed redundancy intentions were at their highest level in 10 years, barring the Covid pandemic.

Reeves has come under intense pressure after a series of weak economic data threatened her plans to expand the economy. Official figures last week showed Britain narrowly avoided a recession in the second half of 2024 after showing unexpected growth in the fourth quarter.

Figures this week are expected to show a rise in inflation and unemployment, emboldening Reeves's critics and unnerving backbench Labour MPs concerned that the government's economic agenda is being blown off course.

The CIPD survey, which was conducted in the second half of January, found that most employers blamed the rise in employer national insurance contributions and a 6.7% increase in the national living wage.