A survey reveals that businesses would rather cut staff
than biscuit budget. Legal counsel and biscuits are least likely cost to be cut
in next two months according to survey

Thirty-eight percent of senior management surveyed
said they would cut back on staff numbers while a mere seven percent would
consider cutting the cookies that their clients like according to The
Protection Gap survey, commissioned by Abbey Legal Protection (ALP.

When asked what costs they
would be most likely to cut back on in the next two months to maintain
profitability, a mere five percent of the UK CEO’s surveyed would touch the
client biscuit budget, with a larger number opting to slash staff pension
contributions (eight percent), Health insurance ( seven percent) and IT support
(seven percent).

In a comforting discovery
for the legal sector, legal counsel is the least likely asset to be cut by the
CEO’s surveyed (four percent) by a business looking to reduce overheads in the
next two months.

Redundancy remains a
priority. Despite the fact that ALP has seen a 46 percent decrease in the
number of redundancy enquiries via its call centre since Q1 2009*, the volume
of calls still remains significantly high, double 2008 figures. In The
Protection Gap Survey, CEO’s deem that staff numbers are currently the second
most likely cost to be cut (14%) behind staff parties (18 percent) and
according to The National Statistics Office, unemployment figures continue to
rise.

CEO cuts priority list
Staff Parties
Staff Numbers
Staff Birthday Presents/
Cakes
Client Entertainment
Part Time/ Flexi-working
Staff
Pensions Contributions
IT Support
Health Insurance
Legal Expenses Insurance
The Biscuits that their
clients like
Legal Counsel

Commenting
on the findings, Richard Candy, Underwriting Director Abbey Legal Protection
said: “It is encouraging to see that legal counsel is the least likely cost to
be cut and is therefore of significant value tobusinesses. However, with
redundancy still rife and staff numbers deemed an area where businesses are
still likely to make cuts, bosses could find themselves faced with costly
redundancy claims. It is therefore worrying to see that, companies are more
willing to lose their legal expenses insurance or health insurance than the
biscuits their clients like.

“Of course, it is important
to note the disparity between costs as they vary greatly but we are glad to see
that legal expenses insurance is a highly valued company cost as one of the
least likely to be cut. Given the volume of companies still looking to make
redundancies, it is imperative that businesses take the appropriate measures
and we encourage them to ensure their legal expenses cover is as water
tight as their legal counsel if they are to avoid risking exposure.
Perhaps this means prioritising it over the biscuits!”

6 May 2010
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