The Official Receiver launched the negligence lawsuit against the Big Four auditor on 17 January over Carillion’s long-term construction projects which were not properly accounted for in the 2014, 2015, or 2016 financial statements, which resulted in misstatements in excess of £800m within Carillion’s financial statements.

The £1.3bn High Court claim represents dividends worth £210m Carillion paid out that would not have been justifiable had auditors flagged the true extent of the company’s finances and professional and advisory fees of £31m.

The liquidators also allege that Carillion could have avoided a £1.1bn deterioration in its cash position between December 2016 and its collapse in January 2018 if KPMG had identified that the outsourcer was insolvent at the start of the period.