KPMG is asking its 11,000 British staff to take unpaid leave or face an extensive redundancy programme.

The programme underlines the challenges faced by professional services firms, which are now being seriously hit by the recession and have begun to cut staff.

KPMG, one of the “Big Four” global accountancy firms, wrote to all its staff by e-mail yesterday morning asking them to volunteer for sabbaticals of between four and twelve weeks on 30 per cent pay or move to a four-day week with the fifth day unpaid.

The e-mail said that the proposal, which it called a contingency plan, was designed to help KPMG to avoid a firm-wide redundancy programme.