Top 50-firm Hill Dickinson has placed 39 jobs at risk of redundancy from its counter-fraud group.

Staff members were told yesterday that a 30-day consultation period had started, with roles including fee-earners and administrative support staff expected to be affected. The firm has said it expects a ‘significant proportion’ of the departures to be through voluntary redundancy.

Hill Dickinson said its counter-fraud group has experienced a 15% increase in instructions but its restructuring processes to be 'aligned to insurers’ ongoing counter-fraud requirements’.

Peter Oakes, head of fraud, said: ‘It is regrettable that we will lose some colleagues from the group as a result of this restructure. We appreciate this is a difficult time and we will be providing as much support and guidance as possible.  

‘The counter-fraud market is hugely dynamic and the restructure will give us an agile model with an emphasis on expertise aligned to the evolving counter-fraud environment, the needs of our clients and the insurance market.’

The job cuts follow the international firm’s decision last year to make 83 people redundant, 14 at partner level.

The decision followed an announcement in April 2013 that the firm would review its range of services and business model in response to market conditions.

Hill Dickinson has domestic offices in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, plus bases in Monaco, Singapore and Greece.