The latest research from The Global Payroll Alliance (GPA), reveals that since the Autumn Budget in October 2024, online search interest in employee redundancy rights and pay have increased by as much as 77% among UK internet users.
During October 2024’s Autumn Statement, the Labour government introduced increases to both the National Living Wage (NLW) and Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs), both of which significantly increased staffing costs for UK businesses and forced many to reduce their headcounts in order to remain profitable. In fact, previous analysis from GPA recently found that the number of payrolled PAYE employees has fallen by -335,000 since the Autumn Statement.
Now GPA’s new analysis of Google Search Interest Scores for search terms relating to redundancy and job seeking have also seen a huge spike since the Autumn Budget.
Between October 2024 and April 2025, UK search interest in the term ‘redundancy rights’ has soared by +76.8% as more and more people have had reason to seek out information on where they stand in the face of an involuntary redundancy offer.
Search interest in the board term ‘redundancy’ has increased by +13.2%, while ‘redundancy pay’ has seen an increase of +10.7%.
Not only is it clear that people want to know more about where they stand, they are also actively looking for new job opportunities.
Since October 2024, online search interest in the term ‘job vacancy’ has increased by +5.8%, while ‘job near me’ is up +4.7%.
Melanie Pizzey, CEO and Founder of the Global Payroll Alliance, said,“The impact of Labour’s decision to increase the living wage and employer NICs is already having a profound impact on UK businesses, especially small businesses that cannot easily absorb increased staffing costs.
What’s really apparent here is that these increases and the subsequent redundancies came relatively out of the blue. There was little in the way of prior warning, and barely time to breathe between the announcement being made and the policies kicking in. As such, employers and employees alike have been left scrambling for information and clarity.
While it’s difficult to place judgement on the government’s decision to introduce these increases, it’s clear to see that it was done with a heavy hand that has potentially made what would already have been a difficult time for businesses even harder.”
