Unite calls for Carillion public inquiry

Dispatches also detailed the so called "aggressive accounting" that took place at Carillion under the former director Richard Adam. Accountants who forecast losses on major projects were told to go back and re-work the numbers to show that the schemes were profitable.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “As information continues to emerge about the collapse of Carillion, the need for a public inquiry grows.

“Thousands of workers have lost their jobs and companies in the supply chain have gone to the wall, though no fault of their own and yet no one has been held responsible.

“Rather than learn from its huge errors which contributed to Carillion’s collapse the government is acting as though it is business as normal.

“There is a growing concern that the government’s inaction could result in further collapses of outsourcing giants resulting yet again with workers losing their jobs and the taxpayer picking up the tab.”

When Carillion went bust it was employing 19,000 people and there were a further 35,000 people employed by it sub-contractors and in its supply chain.

The company went bust with seven billion pounds of liabilities and only £25 million in the bank. The cost of breaking up and closing the company is likely to be in excess of £50 million in fees charged by PwC. The taxpayer will have to pick up the bill for PwC's fees and for the costs of making thousands of staff redundant.