Two-fifths (41%) of public sector workers think they would need to upskill to find work in the private sector, according to research of over 1,000 public sector workers by recruitment consultant Badenoch & Clark.

Of these, one in 10 (13.4%) respondents to the survey said they would need to upskill or retrain significantly and a quarter (27.6%) said they would need to upskill slightly.

Managers within the sector were far more confident, with only one in 20 (5.9%) feeling the need to upskill. Furthermore, over a third (35.3%) of managers said that if they were to move to the private sector, they would not need to upskill or retrain at all.

Despite significant job cuts in the sector in the wake of the Comprehensive Spending Review and further job cuts expected, most workers (73.6%) suggested that, at least for the time being, they are not currently searching for a new job.