Union Unite has called for an investigation into the whereabouts of pension payments made by former Carillion public sector workers.

The union said while it is understood workers last paid their pension contributions in December, the money had not been received by the statutory pension schemes, and nor had the employer's contributions.

While it is unclear when exactly Carillion last paid contributions into the required schemes, Unite said queries had been met with a 'brick wall' by the Insolvency Service and special managers PwC.

National Officer for Health, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, said: "This is a matter of serious concern. Workers make contributions towards their retirement and have every right to expect that those contributions go to the rightful pension schemes.

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"We need to know what has happened to these payments, possibly involving more than a million pounds. At present, they appear to have mysteriously disappeared into the financial abyss.

"Money has been taken from workers' wages for their retirement and that money appears to have disappeared into the ether. Efforts by Unite to discover what has happened from the Insolvency Service has hit a brick wall."

Unite has now called on Frank Field and Rachel Reeves, the respective chairs of the Work and Pensions, and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) select committees, to launch a prove into the final destination of the pension contributions, which could possibly be worth more than a million pounds.

Mr Jarrett-Thorpe continued: "We are calling on the two select committees to redouble their efforts to get to the bottom of the financial debacle that was Carillion.

"The financial stewardship of Carillion in its last months was a prime example of out of control, feral capitalism."

(LM/MH)