Concerns have been raised over the fees accountancy firms can charge when a company falls into administration after it was revealed Carillion's appointed liquidator, PwC, charged on average £356 per hour for its services.

In a letter to the joint parliamentary select committee inquiry into Carillion, PwC also revealed that some pension specialists were paid £1,156 an hour for their work.

In the first eight weeks following Carillion's collapse in January, the firm billed £20.4 million for its services. Overall, it is expected PwC will earn over £50m as a result of the construction giant's collapse.

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Unite assistant general secretary, Gail Cartmail, called upon the Government to introduce a "realistic cap" on what can be charged when accountants are brought in "to mop up similar messes in the future".

"Unite is passionate about ensuring that all workers are paid the correct rate for the job, however for the thousands of workers who have lost their jobs due to Carillion's collapse, these figures will be viewed as both eye watering and excessive," she said.

"PwC like all the major accountancy firms had previously worked with Carillion. To be then being granted such lucrative work by the government, smacks of rewards for failure.

"On average PwC staff will be earning in an hour what many of the workers who have had their lives turned upside down earnt in a week."

(LM/CM)