Andy Bradley, managing director of Flora-tec in Cambridge, has already been forced to lay off ten staff because of the Carillion crisis
Thousands of workers on most private sector contracts held by failed construction company Carillion will continue to be paid, it emerged today.
The Insolvency Service said 90 per cent of private customers have indicated they want it to carry on providing services until new suppliers can be found – and will provide funding to keep staff on.
The news came as a 48-hour pledge of support from the Government for private-sector projects expired, leaving the 8,500 workers fearing redundancy.
However, officials said thoughts were now turning to ‘how and if’ stalled building works could restart.
The news was a ray of light on an otherwise troubling day as small firms owed money by Carillion warned they had begun laying off staff amid fear of an industry-wide ‘domino effect’ of the failure.

Carillion, which was Britain’s second biggest construction firm, went into liquidation on Monday after running up losses on contracts and huge debts
But it was no consolation for the owner of one of the 30,000 small businesses owed cash by Carillion, who revealed his anguish at already having to make ten people redundant due to the collapse of the Wolverhampton-based construction giant.
Andy Bradley, managing director of horticultural services company Flora-tec in Cambridge, has already been forced to lay off ten staff because of the crisis.
The company, which has branches in Ware, Esher, Birmingham, Chester and Leeds, is owed £800,000 by Carillion for landscaping work.
Mr Bradley said the Government’s support for the company after it got into financial trouble had been an ‘absolute disgrace’ and had encouraged small companies like his to follow its lead.
He told the BBC: ‘The government actively encouraged businesses like mine… to get involved in public sector contracts, to make sure the little guy got a slice of the pie.
‘When Carillion started to get into trouble last year we were considering that we would scale back our involvement with them.
‘However… the government continued to give them billion-pound contract after billion-pound contract and that said to me, as a small supplier, that the government had done their due diligence.
‘We were following the government lead… only to be given a sucker punch. I had to make ten people redundant yesterday.
‘That’s ten people with mortgages, car loans, all that stuff. It’s an absolute disgrace.’

Cranes at a Carillion construction site in Central London are pictured earlier this week
Meanwhile it was revealed today that bonus payments to directors and former executives at Carillion have been stopped.
The move came amid political anger about bumper payments to executives who had been in charge as the firm headed for the rocks.
The Insolvency Service said payments, including those included in severance packages for former executives, had been halted after the firm went into liquidation on Monday.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lashed out at the ‘wildly excessive’ bonuses paid to directors.
Carillion’s former chief executive Richard Howson pocketed £1.5million in salary, bonuses and pension payments during 2016 and, as part of his departure deal, Carillion agreed to keep paying him a £660,000 salary and £28,000 in benefits until October.
Former finance chief Zafar Khan, who left Carillion in September, was due to receive £425,000 in base salary for 12 months.
Interim chief executive Keith Cochrane was due to be paid his £750,000 salary until July, despite leaving the company in February.
Mr Corbyn told MPs there was ‘one rule for the super rich, another for everybody else’ and asked Theresa May to guarantee that ‘not a single penny more will go to the chief executive or directors of this company’.
The Prime Minister said the Official Receiver’s investigation into the firm would ‘look into the conduct not just of current directors but also of previous directors and their actions’.
It was possible to take action to claw back bonuses that have already been paid, she indicated.
‘The Official Receiver does have the power to ensure that, in reviewing payments to executives, where those payments are unlawful or unjustified he can take action to recover those payments,’ the Prime Minister said.
Former Labour transport minister Andrew Adonis said the overall situation is a ‘bit like’ when Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 at the start of the financial crisis.

Former Labour transport minister: Andrew Adonis said the situation is a ‘bit like’ when Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 at the start of the financial crisis
As it emerged Carillion had just £29million in cash by the time it went bust, Lord Adonis added: ‘You don’t know what the impact will be.
‘A very large part of Carillion’s work was project management where subcontractors do the work, but these subcontractors don’t know if they will be paid.’
Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, warned of a ‘domino effect’ among smaller sub-contractors, with ‘innocent victims’.
‘Now we are in a very precarious position where thousands of workers don’t know quite what their position is and often they can’t get on site,’ he said.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: ‘Carillion actually aren’t doing the work, they are relying on sub-contractors to do the actual building work.
‘Those companies are relying on the money coming from Carillion, that has stopped.’
Many sub-contractors are owed money going back several months, but tens of thousands of small firms may get less than a penny back for each pound they are owed by Carillion.
The boss of a cleaning firm in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, said he had temporarily stopped providing services to one prison until he gets more assurances

Two people in high-visibility jackets walk yesterday next to the S2 building, a Carillion construction project in King’s Cross, London
Shaun Weeks from Paragon Services made the claim on BBC Radio 5 Live despite the Government saying funding will be provided for public services.
The collapse of the construction giant leaves up to 30,000 traders facing combined losses running to hundreds of millions of pounds.
Contractors and suppliers undertake almost £1billion of work for the firm each year. They are now at risk of having to slash staff or going under.
A report by accountants before Carillion went bust showed that creditors would get between 0.8p and 6.6p in the pound if it went in to liquidation.
It has just £29million in the bank – having paid out £458million in dividends to shareholders between 2011 and 2016.
Its directors – past and present – are to investigated by the Official Receiver.
Many sub-contractors would be owed money going back months, according to Mike Cherry of the Federation of Small Businesses.
He said: ‘It is vital that Carillion’s small business suppliers are paid what they are owed, or some of those firms could themselves be put in jeopardy, putting even more jobs at risk besides those of Carillion’s own employees.’
As the fallout intensified over Britain’s largest corporate failure since the financial crash:
- Ministers ordered a fast-track investigation into the company’s directors;
- They said staff working on public sector contracts would continue to be paid;
- State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland was accused of undermining Carillion’s attempts to avoid collapse;
- It emerged that Carillion went bust carrying up to £3billion of financial liabilities.
Carillion, which was Britain’s second biggest construction firm, went into liquidation on Monday after running up losses on contracts and huge debts.

A Carillion sign is pictured at Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Smethwick, where construction work is being carried out by the firm
Its business is in the hands of the Official Receiver, which is reviewing all of its contracts.
Yesterday the sites of major multi-million-pound developments in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Sunderland were deserted.
And it appears that work on the Royal Liverpool Hospital could also be delayed.
Business Secretary Greg Clark yesterday demanded the probe be broadened and fast-tracked. The conduct of current and former directors will be examined.
It also emerged that taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland tightened the terms of its funding to Carillion three days before it was forced to call in liquidators.
In a witness statement filed in the High Court, Carillion’s interim chief executive Keith Cochrane accused the lender of taking ‘unilateral action which in the company’s view undermined the group’s efforts to conserve cash’.
On Saturday, it submitted a final plea to ministers for funding, but the next day the request was refused in favour of liquidation.
Mr Cochrane’s statement revealed the firm has debts and liabilities of £3billion – including a £587million pension deficit.
Carillion employed 43,000 people worldwide, including almost 20,000 in the UK, and had 450 contracts with the Government.

Carillion had just £29million in cash by the time it went bust, its interim chief executive said
Ministers said staff and contractors working on public sector service contracts would continue to be paid.
But there was no such guarantee for firms tied into private work. The Pension Protection Fund is expected to take on Carillion’s pensions deficit.
The firm spent £952million with small firms in 2016 and ministers said companies working on the firm’s private contracts would be paid for another 48 hours.
But some are already losing out – and laying off staff. Mr Cherry said unpaid bills could go back several months, with some suppliers saying they waited 120 days to be paid.
‘Sadly these kind of poor payment practices are all too common among some big corporations,’ he said.
‘When the dust settles on this sorry saga, there is also a wider lesson to learn about the concentration of public contracts in the hands of a small number of very big businesses.
‘Public procurement must be much more small-business friendly, in which it is easier for small firms to navigate the system and the Government should prioritise meeting its target of at least one third of taxpayer-funded contracts going to smaller firms.’
Sarah McCann-Bartlett, of the British Constructional Steelwork Association, said thousands of sub-contractors would be out of pocket.
‘There is always a long trail of sub-contractors that go under in these situations,’ she added.
‘A lot were working for Carillion and were not insured, and so that’s devastating.’
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said the collapse of Carillion would ‘cost us a fortune’ in replacing the firm as a contractor.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: ‘Do you really expect people to step forward out of the goodness of their hearts and just deliver a contract that’s going to be to our advantage?
‘No they won’t, they are going to be there to extract the maximum out of this.’
Labour leader Mr Corbyn said: ‘When there are people who are sub-contractors or small firms that are contracted into Carillion that are not getting paid, workers being made redundant at 48 hours’ notice, and less in some cases, the directors, for all the bonuses they have had, should pay them back.’
The Insolvency Service later said payments, including those included in severance packages for former executives, had been halted after the firm went into liquidation.
A spokesman said: ‘Any bonus payment to directors, beyond the liquidation date, have been stopped and this includes the severance payments which were being paid to some senior executives who left the company.’