Allianz's Lawphone helpline reports record demand for redundancy advice

The figures highlight a 24 per cent increase in the number of employment-related calls made to the company's Lawphone service since July.

David Vine, Allianz Legal Protection explained: "This leap is quite astonishing. We were hearing of an average of one or two redundancies being considered per call, but the average we are hearing now is more like 10 or 20. We expect to see further increases in calls towards the end of the year as redundancy consultations commenced earlier on in the year come to completion."

He added: "It's good to see that people are taking advantage of the advice offered by helplines like Lawphone, particularly the large number of commercial calls we are receiving. It shows employers are acting responsibly and when redundancies are necessary are going about it in a sensible and compliant way."