Redundancy faces employees in more than half of UK businesses, research from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) reveals.

According to a poll of 450 companies, 51% of firms are ‘considering' or ‘certain' to cut jobs over the next six months.

A fifth of businesses predict growth to return to the UK economy by the end of 2009, but half do not predict any growth until the first half of 2010.

Commenting on the findings, Adam Marshall, BCC director of policy said: "With half of firms still thinking about reducing their workforce, government must continue to promote measures that stimulate growth in investment and jobs.

"It will be business that drives an economic recovery, boosting unemployment along the way. Policies to help business retain jobs, and increase employment will be critical over the next 12 months. Scrapping plans to raise national insurance contributions in 2011 is an obvious place to start."