Employment lawyers and legal helplines in the UK are reporting a sharp rise in businesses seeking advice on how to sack staff, suggesting a further surge in redundancies may be on the way.

Allianz, the insurance group, says its legal helpline Lawphone last month received a record number of calls seeking advice on redundancy issues. More than a third of calls received by the helpline were about employment issues, against 2.4 per cent in the same month last year, it said.