Results of research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development suggest that the number of redundancies is likely to rise in the first quarter of 2011.

The results show a rise in the number of planned job losses, to the highest level recorded since the institute began in 2004.

Four in ten organisations have planned redundancies for the first quarter of 2011.

The institute's policy advisor Gerwyn Davies has stated that the institute does not expect unemployment to begin falling before 2012.

The worst affected will be organisations in the public sector, where redundancies are predicted to affect one in eight employees.

Elsewhere, organisations who anticipate making redundancies believe action will affect one in ten employees.

It is hoped that growth promotion in the private sector will counter some of these job losses.

Unemployment currently stands at just less than 2.5m, with an update on these figures due from the Office of National Statistics on Wednesday.