The majority of employees in the UK would be willing to accept a pay cut if it meant avoiding redundancies at their place of work, new research has revealed.

According to the survey by SimplyWired.co.uk, 69 per cent of workers would be willing to take such action, with 37 per cent of respondents citing the fear they would not be able to find a new job as their motive.

However, 29 per cent of respondents said they would not take a pay cut, believing they could find a new job that would pay their worth, although 85 per cent of jobseekers agreed that employees are paid less due to increased competition.

Commenting on the news, Duncan Browne, director of reward services at the Institute for Employment Studies, said he had not seen any cases of pay cuts due in part to the legal implications.

But he added that some 40 per cent of private sector organisations have initiated a pay freeze.

“The general situation is that unemployment has gone up to two and a half million. Most people know someone who’s been made redundant in the last year or so,” Mr Browne concluded.

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