Public sector workers fear redundancy

Posted 04/08/2009

People who work in the public sector are becoming increasingly concerned about redundancy, a new poll has found.

According to a study by Hymans Robertson, 31 per cent of public sector employees are worried about the possibility of being laid off in the near future.

This sentiment was found to be particularly strong in local government organisations, in which 35 per cent of the workforce fear being made redundant.

Alison Murray, a partner at Hymans Robertson, commented: “Those in the public sector are not insulated from the effect of the current recession.”

The poll also found that many public sector employees believe they will be less well off than their counterparts in privately-run organisations when they retire.

One in ten respondents said they think that private sector workers get a better deal in later life.

The findings come after the Centre for Economics and Business Research predicted that unemployment in the UK could reach nearly four million before the end of the recession.