UK redundancies set to spike

The number of redundancies planned by UK employers in the past year has jumped by 54%, with financial services seeing a rise of more than a third.

GQ Littler, which tracks employment trends, said that 237,017 redundancies were planned by the end of July, compared with 153,635 at the same stage last year.

The financial services industry saw planned redundancies rise from 39,389 to 53,739 this year – a 36% rise. This was partly due to an investment banking slowdown caused by rising interest rates.

The job cuts follow 14 consecutive interest rate rises. Companies are also facing higher wage growth, with the Office for National Statistics estimating a 7.8% average increase between April and June; the figure for finance and business professionals was 9.4%.

“Businesses are beginning to feel the full effects of the current interest rates cycle,” said GQ Littler partner Caroline Baker. “Wage increases are also putting pressure on bottom lines, even as overall inflation falls.

“Businesses are still being careful not to let too many staff go but the statistics show that the job market is beginning to slow.”