Public sector ‘concerned about redundancies’

Employees within the UK’s public sector are concerned about the possibility of redundancies, along with how they will cope in retirement, new research has found.

The study by Hymans Robertson revealed that 54 per cent of such workers believe that their counterparts in the private sector have the same working and retirement benefits, or better, an issue HR staff may wish to address in their own workplace.

And one in ten respondents voiced their fears that they will be worse off when they come to retire than those in private workplaces.

Furthermore, 42 per cent admitted they would prefer to receive an increased wage than see the money go into a retirement fund, while over a quarter of those facing immediate retirement would consider working until they were 70.

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Alison Murray, partner at Hymans Robertson, said: "These findings reflect the simple fact that those in the public sector are not insulated from the effect of the current recession."

The report comes as a study by the Trade Union Congress reveals that agency employees are treated unequally when it comes to benefits.