CIPD sees little evidence that rate of redundancies is on the decline

The CIPD reports the proportion of HR professionals seeking advice on redundancy has only fallen from 19% in the first quarter of 2009 to 18% in the second quarter - leading to the conclusion more redundancies could be on the cards.

In the second quarter of 2008, when the CIPD recognised redundancies would be a serious problem in 2009, the figure was 12%. In June this year 5,000 calls to the CIPD helpline were about staff cuts.

John Philpott, the CIPD's chief economist and public policy director, said: "Our data offers little comfort that there will be any significant let-up in the redundancy rate in the next few months, though we remain hopeful that the first quarter will prove to have been the worst for redundancies in this recession and that the situation will start to look better by the end of the year.  

"There is considerable encouraging survey and anecdotal evidence of co-operation between employers and staff to seek alternatives to redundancy in the current recession. But looked at from a macroeconomic perspective there is insufficient data to enable a firm conclusion to be drawn on whether this recession has resulted in proportionately fewer redundancies than previous recessions.

"Moreover, with 300,000 redundancies recorded in the first quarter alone and, as our helpline data suggest, more on the way throughout the remainder of the year, one should probably avoid putting too positive a spin on the impact of this recession on the workplace."