The CIPD/KPMG Labour Market report shows one in five employers will enforce the Government's retirement policy, which allows them to make employees redundant when they turn 65.
The report also shows the average cost of making workers redundant now stands at more than £10,000.
John Philpott, chief economist at the CIPD, said: "Employers have held off from making large-scale redundancies until recently but we are now on the verge of a torrent of bad news."
But he added: "With the average cost of redundancy to employers now running at more than £10,000 for each person losing their job, there is a financial incentive for organisations to hold on to staff where they can."
KPMG's HR director, Dave Conder, said: "Redundancy doesn't have to be the only cost reduction option for businesses during difficult times. Closing down recruitment avenues, deploying flexible resource management and simply having controls on optional spending will all help in the long run. Redundancy is sometimes a short-term fix to the problems businesses experience in the downturn."
This news comes the same week that Travelodge announced it would be recruiting 450 new members of staff, and Working Time Solutions, which helps employers better manage staff shifts and workforce forecasting, has announced it will expand its own team to deal with the growth in business this year.
Employers to make more redundant than planned
More than a quarter of employers (26%) plan to make redundancies in the next year in addition to those already planned.
