A briefing note published by the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) predicts that there could be up to 700,000 redundancies in the UK announced this autumn. It is calling for urgent measures to support those affected, stimulate employment growth and provide targeted help to viable firms. This article has commentary on this from Tony Wilson, IES, who will be speaking at SCTP’s September members’ conference on 17 September. This article highlights the latest Office for National Statistics figures which show a rise of 6.6% in gross domestic product (GDP) in July compared with June. It also suggests that the Chancellor may delay the autumn budget due to economic uncertainty.