A human resources firm says around 10 per cent of its clients are making redundancies as the coronavirus crisis hits jobs and warns this may be “only the tip of the iceberg”.

Sarah Goddard runs Turnstone HR, alongside fellow consultant Chrissy Tait.

The pair are based in Ulverston and Barrow respectively but with clients across the county.

Sarah said it had been a busy time for them.

“For us HR just shot into the limelight; whether it was around health and wellbeing or working from home or furlough - there were lots of questions," she said.

“Over the last month unfortunately we have seen an increase in redundancies and requests for support to make people redundant.”

She said approximately 10 per cent of the around 100 companies they dealt with were making redundancies.

“The feeling is that that is the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

“The types of redundancies we have been seeing have been in the retail sector, because they were out of circulation for so long, they have stock they haven’t been able to sell and they are having to reduce the number of people in a shop and turnover is just small.”

A reduction in staff at some businesses was, in turn, affecting those working in administrative, finance and some management roles.

However, the company also dealt with some operators in the care sector which were looking to recruit, while the surge in home shopping was creating opportunities for people to work in transport and deliveries.

Turnstone HR also helps people who lost have their jobs get back into work. Sarah said she felt concerned for younger job hunters as the market was filled with older, more experienced candidates competing for work.