Next month’s World Cup competition poses a significant threat to Britain’s economy, as new research reveals that up to three out of every five employees plan to skip work to watch the England team play.

The survey by Begbies Traynor found that approximately 60% of both male and female members of staff working at small businesses are either intending or know someone who intends to pull a sickie on match day.

What’s more, 70% of these employees said they feel no guilt about taking off the time.

Separate research from web-content filtering vendor Marshal broke the figure down even further and claims that staff absences will cost UK business £8,400 in lost productivity for every 100 companies.

If 25 out of 100 office workers spend one hour a day catching up on the World Cup, the results will be more than 175 hours of lost productivity per week, Marshal said.

With the average UK hourly wage at approximately £12 an hour, World Cup-related internet access could cost a business a minimum of £2,100 per week for each 100 employees, Marshal said.

“Small businesses could suffer during the World Cup if so many staff plan to go missing during work hours,” said Mark Fry, south-east managing partner of Begbies Traynor.

“Given the nation’s interest in football and the likelihood that staff will be as good as their word and slope off, we think bosses are best off trying to strike a compromise and make sure there is a TV in the workplace during the World Cup.

“Or they might be a bit more imaginative and offer staff the chance to make up lost time later on. But most importantly, they must be consistent and fair – if one person gets to watch the football, everyone should.”

Determination to catch England’s matches is up sharply over the Euro 2004 competition, during which just Begbies Traynor found in a similar survey that just 43% of workers at small businesses said they planned to pull a sickie.

Despite their pledge to skip work, bosses are refusing to crack down. Less than a quarter say they plan to let staff watch games in the office.

Meanwhile, 20% of respondents in Begbies’ survey said they would like to see their bosses monitor staff absences during the World Cup.