A judge has awarded Wrekin Construction workers nearly £2 million in unpaid wages after finding they were not consulted properly before being made redundant.

More than 500 employees of the Shifnal-based firm lost their jobs last March when the firm went into administration with debts of more than £40 million.

The workers are entitled to claim up to eight weeks pay from the Government if an employment tribunal finds an employer failed to properly consult staff before making them redundant.

At a hearing in Birmingham Judge Pauline Hughes made a “protective award” of eight weeks’ wages to staff made redundant between March 9 and June 6 2009.

However, former worker Gill Tranter said only about a fifth of the 530 workers had claimed and she feared many were not aware they were entitled to the cash.

“I went to the tribunal hearing when Judge Hughes awarded all the employees the protective award but I think most people are not aware that they need to fill out the forms and apply for the payment.

“I’ve written to as many as I can, but there are more people out there who should know they are entitled to this money.”

She said: “The law says that companies should consult for 90 days before making redundancies and because Wrekin employees were not given this, they are all entitled to the protective award.”

Based on the average weekly salary of £451, paid to 530 workers for eight weeks, this would see more than £1.9 million paid out by the Redundancy Payments Service. Former staff need to fill out an ET1 form and can call the Insolvency Service on 0121 456 4411.