UK workers ‘facing increased redundancy threat’

Posted 23/12/2009

British workers have seen their susceptibility to the risk of joblessness and redundancy increase over the last year, according to new research.

Figures published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) have revealed that 201,105 people were unemployed and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in the last month.

This is almost double the 103,930 figure recorded in December 2008, while the TUC stated that the amount of long-term unemployed people is likely to rise even further during the new year.

Such figures also go some way to explaining the 29 per cent rise in unfair dismissal claims during 2008-09, as highlighted in statistics from the Tribunals Service released earlier this year.

The TUC study prompted Grahame Smith, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, to call for greater protection for affected workers.

He said: “It is essential that government at all levels continues to support the unemployed back into work and also to assist those at risk of redundancy.”