The Government has pledged to review employment laws concerning redundancy consultations and protection of employee’s contracts when a company transfers to a new owner.

Chancellor George Osborne told the Institute of Directors last month that if the Government was to support job creation it could not “shy away from looking at difficult issues”.

The Government says it wants to remove unnecessary bureaucracy within current employment law.

At the moment, firms cannot make more than 100 workers redundant within 90 days of informing them of redundancies.

The Department of Business said employers were concerned that this time scale was “hindering their ability to restructure efficiently and retain a flexible workforce”.

It added: “Employers in financial difficulty worry about how long they need to keep paying staff after it has become clear that they need to let them go.”

“If we are to support private sector growth and create jobs, we can’t shy away from looking at difficult issues like employment law,” said Osborne in a speech to the Institute of Directors’ annual convention.

“Examining these areas of the law which could be holding back job creation demonstrates the Government’s commitment to go for growth.”