Carillion's liquidation: office-holders, costs and creditors

analysisCarillion plc entered compulsory liquidation on 15 January 2018. According to the House of Commons committees' May 2018 report, the High Court granted the winding-up order at 6.40am that day for Carillion plc and five subsidiaries and appointed David Chapman, the Official Receiver, as liquidator. The Insolvency Service notice published the same day lists the companies as Carillion plc, Carillion Construction Ltd, Carillion Services Ltd, Planned Maintenance Engineering Ltd, Carillion Integrated Services Ltd and Carillion Services 2006 Ltd, and states that the Official Receiver became responsible for their day-to-day control and management, with partners at PwC appointed as special managers to assist. The special managers' information page adds that the orders were made on the petition of the companies' directors and that the special managers were appointed at the same time to support the Official Receiver. Companies House records a single insolvency case for Carillion plc: a compulsory liquidation with petition date and commencement of winding up both on 15 January 2018 and the Official Receiver as practitioner. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisThe Insolvency Service's chief executive told the committees that private insolvency practitioners were unwilling to take on an administration because there was no certainty that enough money was left in the company to pay their costs, and the committees record that the Government made £150 million available to support the insolvency in 2017–18. Among its unpublished sources the committees' report cites the first witness statement of Keith Cochrane, dated 15 January 2018 (exhibit KC1), filed in the High Court in the matter of Carillion plc and of the Insolvency Act 1986. The Insolvency Service notice, and PwC's list of appointments of August 2018, give company number 02684154 for Carillion Services Ltd and 03011791 for Carillion Services 2006 Ltd. The Companies House register shows the reverse, with 03011791 for Carillion Services Limited (incorporated on 19 January 1995) and 02684154 for Carillion Services 2006 Limited (incorporated on 4 February 1992), and the special managers' distributions table pairs them in the same way. The two lists appear to have transposed the numbers; this reading, which the dossier follows, rests on the register and the later table rather than on any correction by the Insolvency Service or PwC. ^{2 5 1 6 7 8 9}

analysisAccording to the committees' May 2018 report, the Official Receiver acted both as liquidator and, at the Government's request, as the operator of the public services Carillion had provided. The report credited him with securing the employment of more than 11,000 former Carillion employees, keeping public services operating and cutting supplier payment terms from Carillion's 120 days to 30 days, while more than 2,000 employees had been made redundant; these were the committees' figures at the time of the report. Replying in July 2018, the Insolvency Service welcomed the committees' recognition of the work done to effect an orderly liquidation of the Carillion companies, including the early improvement of payment terms and the preservation of many jobs. The National Audit Office recorded that thirty-one of Carillion's 198 companies were in liquidation and gave its own figures as at 29 May 2018: the Official Receiver had found continuing employment for 11,638 people (64% of the pre-liquidation UK workforce) through contract transfers, 2,332 (13%) had been made redundant without new jobs, around 3,000 were still employed and 1,116 had left voluntarily; the NAO expected non-government creditors to recover little, with some payments to creditors of subsidiaries with positive net assets and a large proportion going to tax liabilities and the pension schemes. In his letter of 30 September 2019, answering a committee question that noted the trading phase had ended in August 2018, the Official Receiver reported that the remaining 125 Carillion employees had been made redundant by 31 December 2018 and that overall 16% of the workforce had been made redundant while 84% of jobs were saved, mostly through transfers to new contractors. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisPwC's list of Carillion entities in liquidation as at 2 August 2018 names David Chapman, Official Receiver, as liquidator in the compulsory liquidations and identifies the special managers, each a PwC insolvency practitioner whose regulatory body is given as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales: Michael Jervis and David Kelly for Carillion plc; Jervis, Kelly, Peter Dickens and David Matthew Hammond for Carillion Construction Limited; and Jervis, Kelly, David Chubb and Russell Downs for the other four companies wound up on 15 January 2018. The team has since changed. David Chubb retired from PwC on 31 March 2019 and was discharged at a hearing on 31 May 2019; a hearing to discharge Russell Downs was held on 16 December 2021, and Downs retired from PwC on 31 December 2021. Following the death of Michael Jervis, a court hearing on 30 August 2023 discharged him as special manager, appointed Adam Seres as replacement special manager for all of the companies and appointed Toby Banfield, listed in the appointments table as Mark James Tobias Banfield, as an additional special manager for Carillion plc and Carillion Construction Limited. The current table lists Edward Macnamara, Adam Seres and Mark Banfield as special managers of Carillion plc and Banfield, Seres, Peter Dickens and Matthew Hammond for Carillion Construction Ltd, with Banfield and Seres listed for every other company; David Kelly does not appear in it. ^{1 2}

analysisOn 15 June 2026 the Insolvency Service announced that David Chapman, its Senior Official Receiver, had been made an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours; the announcement credits him with leading the resolution of the Carillion, Thomas Cook and British Steel insolvencies. ³

analysisPwC's August 2018 list records the compulsory liquidations that followed the first orders, each with the Official Receiver as liquidator. Carillion Asset Management, Carillion Energy Services and Carillion LGS were wound up on 25 January 2018, and seven companies on 26 January, among them Carillion Fleet Management, Postworth, TPS Consult, Carillion Specialist Services, Carillion Utility Services and Carillion AM Government. Sovereign Hospital Services followed on 2 February and, on 16 February 2018, Carillion JM, Carillion Holdings, Schal International Management, Dudley Bower Group, Carillion Professional Services and other companies. On 13 June 2018 Carillion (AM), Carillion Swindon, Carillion Capital Projects and Churchward were wound up with Jervis and Kelly as special managers, together with Carillion Utility Services Group, Carillion Utility Services S.E., G T Railway Maintenance Holdings and six other group companies listed without special managers. Centrac, Clinicenta and Eaga Energy Solutions were among the companies wound up on 4 July 2018; Alfred McAlpine International, Carillion (Singapore), Carillion MENA and Carillion Support Services & Investments among those on 8 August; and G T Railway Maintenance Limited on 22 August 2018. ¹

analysisMore group companies were placed in compulsory liquidation later, again with the Official Receiver as liquidator and with Mark Banfield and Adam Seres listed as special managers: Carillion Construction Overseas Limited on 21 September 2018, Carillion Private Finance (Education) 2015 Limited on 12 December 2018, Carillion AM Developments Limited and Marchwiel Properties Limited on 10 April 2019 and Carillion Private Finance Limited on 25 September 2019. ²

analysisCompanies outside the Official Receiver's geographical jurisdiction needed an insolvency practitioner other than the Official Receiver as liquidator, the special managers' page explains, and PwC's list names office-holders from PwC in those cases. In Scotland, Carillion (AMBS) Limited went into provisional liquidation on 19 January 2018, interim liquidation on 25 April and court liquidation on 6 June 2018, with Jervis, Kelly, Chubb and Downs listed as office-holders and no Official Receiver entry; Carillion (AMBS) Holdings Limited and AMBS 1 Limited entered interim liquidation on 19 June 2018, with Jervis and Kelly listed. Carillion Finance (Jersey) Limited entered a just and equitable winding up in Jersey on 26 January 2018, and Carillion Insurance Company Limited a compulsory liquidation in Guernsey under the Companies (Guernsey) Law 2008 on 20 March 2018, both with Nicholas Vermeulen and Christian Van Den Berg of PwC in the Channel Islands as office-holders. In Ireland, Carillion Irishenco Limited entered liquidation on 27 June 2018 with Declan McDonald of PwC Dublin as liquidator, and P.J. Walls (Civil) Limited on 8 August 2018 with Michael O’Regan of PwC Dublin. Six companies with Aspire in their names, Carillion (Aspire Services) Limited, Carillion (Aspire Construction) Limited and their holding companies, were placed in members' voluntary liquidation, the procedure for winding up a company whose directors have declared it solvent, with Robert Lewis and Laura Waters of PwC as liquidators. PwC's August 2018 list dates all six to 30 May 2018, while the special managers' page gives 25 April 2018 for Carillion (Aspire Services) Limited; the difference is not explained. ^{1 2}

analysisThe National Audit Office's 2018 investigation set out the Official Receiver's forecast as of 18 May 2018: total liquidation costs of £522 million, including £50 million of payments to the special managers, £164 million to subcontractors and £170 million of Carillion staff payroll, against income of £417 million and an expected £44 million distribution to creditors and reimbursement of fees, giving a net cost of £148 million. The NAO stated that the Cabinet Office would ultimately pay this loss, which the £150 million it had already provided would cover; the forecast was subject to uncertainties, and the NAO noted that it would take a long time to establish the final cost. The NAO also cited the Construction Products Association's report that 11,600 subcontractors worked directly for Carillion, and recorded that the government had coordinated lending facilities of up to £1 billion for small and medium-sized firms in the supply chain, with limited call on them at the time of its report. ¹

analysisThe committees' May 2018 report records the evidence of special manager David Kelly, charged out at £865 per hour, that PwC's first eight weeks of work would cost £20.4 million, that PwC staff were working at an average hourly rate of £360 and that 112 people had worked on Carillion in the week before his evidence. ²

analysisThe committees questioned how PwC was appointed and how its work and fees were overseen. The Official Receiver told them he could not run a tender and chose a firm that was not conflicted, had sufficient resources and had some existing knowledge of the group; the committees noted that PwC had most recently supported the Cabinet Office's contingency planning for Carillion, while finding it credible that the other Big Four firms were considered more conflicted, and said that the court had set no clear remuneration terms and that PwC was "effectively writing their own pay cheque, without adequate scrutiny". PwC and the Insolvency Service contested these conclusions in their July 2018 responses. In its reply, published in the committees' special report of 12 July 2018, the Insolvency Service said that PwC's knowledge of Carillion's affairs had helped it take on the special manager role quickly but "was not however of a level that would constitute a conflict of interest" under the considerations an insolvency practitioner applies before accepting an appointment, a position no court has tested in the retained material, and that remuneration is scrutinised by the Official Receiver and approved by the court. In its own account, PwC described the case as the largest ever compulsory liquidation in the UK, said it had deployed 257 people with specialist skills in the first week and stated that there was no conflict of interest in its appointment, a view it said the Official Receiver shares; it added that the Official Receiver had negotiated a 20% discount on its standard market rates and that its fees are subject to High Court review. The Insolvency Service reported that on 28 June 2018 the court had considered PwC's remuneration application and concluded that £22.9m (net of VAT) was due for 15 January to 31 March 2018, a sum reflecting the discount the Insolvency Service had negotiated and representing a saving of £5.7m; it expected the net cost of the liquidation to be around £148 million and PwC's final bill as special managers to be about £50m, around 10% of the total gross costs. In September 2019 the Official Receiver put the special managers' costs at £43.7m for 15 January to 31 December 2018 and £8.5m for 1 January to 31 August 2019. ^{3 2 4}

analysisThe Official Receiver's letter to the committee chairs of 30 September 2019 reported total realisations, including trading receipts, of just over £500m across the liquidation estates, about £88m more than at December 2018, and further recoveries above £10m were expected. By then 81 companies were in compulsory liquidation with the Official Receiver as liquidator, 15 more than in December 2018, and special managers had been appointed over 46 of them. The special managers' costs of £43.7m for 2018 compared with an earlier estimate of £44.2m; of the £8.5m for January to August 2019, about £6.7m related to shortfall entities, and PwC staff assisting averaged 14.6 whole-time equivalents a week in June to August 2019 against 155.2 in January to March 2018. The Official Receiver expected to keep needing the special managers to progress litigation against a number of parties. Asked whether the net cost of the liquidations remained £72 million, he estimated it at £62m for 61 of the estates and said the remaining 20 companies in liquidation should show a surplus enabling distributions; the group had 13 defined benefit pension schemes, and the Pension Protection Fund was estimated to be entitled to a dividend from three Carillion companies with a surplus. Evidence from the Official Receiver recorded in the High Court's judgment of 27 October 2021 on the FCA's appeal describes Carillion as the largest trading liquidation in UK history, with proofs of debt exceeding £7.1 billion while realisations "as of last year" totalled only some £575 million; the Insolvency Service's fee income had been spent, all realisations had been absorbed by liquidation expenses, and any costs of Carillion taking part in FCA enforcement proceedings would have to be met from public funds. ^{3 5}

analysisThe Official Receiver and the special managers of the 84 UK Carillion group companies in liquidation have published an update on the anticipated distribution and closure of 74 UK subsidiaries and the status of the remaining 10, with a schedule of anticipated distributions which, they state, is based on current information, depends on realisations and costs and cannot be relied upon as guidance to the actual outcome. Counting the rows of that table gives 84 companies: 23 marked "Yes" for a dividend to unsecured creditors, 60 marked "Nil" and Carillion plc marked "Not anticipated". A trade-press report of 22 September 2025 on the schedule PwC published as special manager that day gave the same 60 and 23 but described Carillion plc's status as "uncertain"; the later table records no anticipated dividend for Carillion plc's unsecured creditors. The row counts are the dossier's own, and because the trade-press copy converted some month-first dates incorrectly (showing Clinicenta Limited as 07/04/2018, for example), dates here come from the special managers' table and PwC's list. ^{1 2 3}

analysisThe companies marked "Yes" include Carillion Holdings Limited, Carillion JM Limited, Carillion Energy Services Limited, Carillion (AM) Limited, Carillion Services Limited (03011791), Carillion Fleet Management Limited, Carillion LGS Limited, Carillion Utility Services Limited, Carillion MENA Limited, Carillion Private Finance Limited, Carillion Capital Projects Limited, Churchward plc, Eaga Energy Solutions Limited, Carillion AM Developments Limited and Marchwiel Properties Limited. The schedule is indicative, and the office-holders state that it is subject to change. A nil prospect is shown for, among others, Carillion Construction Limited, Carillion Services (2006) Limited (02684154), Carillion Integrated Services, Planned Maintenance Engineering, Carillion Asset Management, Carillion AM Government, Postworth, TPS Consult, Carillion Specialist Services, Sovereign Hospital Services, Schal International Management, Dudley Bower Group, Carillion Professional Services, Carillion Swindon, Carillion Utility Services Group Limited, Carillion Utility Services S.E. Limited, G T Railway Maintenance Holdings, G T Railway Maintenance Limited, Centrac, Clinicenta, Alfred McAlpine International, Carillion (Singapore), Carillion Support Services & Investments, Carillion Construction Overseas, Carillion Regeneration (in liquidation from 20 March 2019), Carillion GB (from 7 October 2020) and The Hospital Company (Sandwell) Limited and its holding company (from 9 January 2019). The table writes dates month first, so that 10/7/2020 is 7 October 2020 and Clinicenta's 7/4/2018 is 4 July 2018, as PwC's August 2018 list also shows. ^{3 4}

analysisFor Carillion plc itself the table shows a dividend to unsecured creditors as "Not anticipated", and for Carillion Construction Limited as "Nil". On 16 October 2026, further to an update of 6 May 2026, the Official Receiver and the special managers of Carillion plc gave notice that they intend to apply to the court under section 176A(5) of the Insolvency Act 1986 for an order that section 176A(2) shall not apply, so that they would be under no obligation to make a prescribed part (the share of a company's net property, otherwise payable to holders of floating charges, that section 176A reserves for unsecured creditors) available for the company's unsecured creditors, on the basis that the costs of doing so would far exceed the value of the prescribed part. This is a notice of an intended application, and the retained record does not show the court's decision. The office-holders state that no funds are expected to be available for returns to shareholders of the Carillion liquidation companies. A notice of intended first and final dividend was issued for Carillion Advice Services Limited, Carillion MENA Limited, Carillion Private Finance Limited and SA 1 Developments LLP, with 25 March 2026 as the final date for proving claims. ^{3 1}