More workers formerly employed by collapsed construction giant Carillion have lost their jobs, taking the total to almost 1,000.

A further 59 employees working on construction projects that have been paused, will leave the business later this week, the Official Receiver announced.

A total of 989 jobs have now been lost since Carillion went into liquidation last month, with 6,668 saved out of the previous directly-employed workforce of 18,000.

Around 4,400 of the saved jobs are as a result of arrangements to transfer prison facilities management and defence bases catering and cleaning contracts to new providers.

A spokesman for the Official Receiver said: “Ongoing employment has been confirmed for more than a third of Carillion’s workforce so far as part of the liquidation.

“There is a lot of interest from potential purchasers in the contracts the company delivered which will see the number of jobs safeguarded continue to increase.

“Those who have lost their jobs will be able to find support through Jobcentre Plus’ rapid response service and are also entitled to make a claim for statutory redundancy payments.

“Most employees who have transferred so far have done so on existing or similar terms and I will continue to facilitate this wherever possible as we work to find new providers for Carillion’s other contracts.

“The process to find new suppliers to deliver Carillion’s contracts continues.”