The government’s academic think-tank WRR says that workers who lose their jobs should not get golden handshakes but should instead be paid their salary while job hunting. It suggests the length of time they are paid should depend on how long they had been employed.

For years, employers have called for an end to compensating sacked staff – for the under 40s, roughly one month’s salary for every year worked – saying it is too expensive. Investing in training would cut the time it took people to find a new job as well as employer costs, the WRR says.