Law firm Mace & Jones warns agriculture bosses to take care when planning redundancies.

Employment law partner Phil Allen said: “Employers can walk into a minefield of costly and time consuming problems if they mis-manage the redundancy process.”

This follows a survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development saying the number of employers planning redundancies has risen by five per cent since April.

Research by professional services network KPMG found half the 200 senior executives asked plan to lay off staff.