Management consultancy Accenture plans to cut 300 to 400 jobs, many of which are predicted to be in IT. The company is currently carrying out a consultation process to determine exactly where the jobs will be lost.

In a statement the company said the cuts were to "balance the skills of our workforce" rather than a response to the credit crisis.

A spokesperson for the firm said, "Managing supply and demand of our resources remains a top priority. We are taking steps in the UK to balance the skills of our workforce against client needs.

"Given this, we expect a workforce reduction of approximately 300-400 people in certain skill sets where we have excess capacity.”