A third of UK workers believe that their jobs will be automated within the next decade – and almost ten per cent think it’s likely to happen within two years - according to research by payroll firm ADP – and of those, over half think their employers are not doing enough to reskill them ahead of time.

Fears over automation are distributed unevenly amongst different demographics, according to the research cited by The Independent newspaper and others: just under 50% of employees aged between 16 and 35 see their jobs falling to automation within ten years, whilst workers in London are more fearful than those anywhere else: 46% of those surveyed in the capital worry about losing their jobs to automation over the next decade.

“Automation may seem like an issue for future generations, but our findings show that machines could replace thousands of employees in as few as five years… By starting to upskill and retrain workers now, employers can ensure they and their employees are as ready as possible to work side-by-side with the machines,” Jeff Phipps, managing director at ADP UK, told The Independent.