The move marks a roller coaster day for the firm which saw 2,500 staff transferred to Morgan Sindall’s affordable homes arm Lovell Partnerships in a deal worth £28m.

Many of the staff were given the bad news yesterday by conference call.

KPMG said:  “Unfortunately due to the mobile nature of the staff, the administrators are unable to give further detail on the locations of the staff at this stage but will make further announcements as soon as possible.

“While the administrators made every effort to communicate with staff in person, the large number of staff and wide geographic spread across the country necessitated a series of telephone calls yesterday to ensure staff were informed of redundancies as soon as possible.”

Brian Green, restructuring partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said:  “Immediately following appointment we conducted a commercial review of the staffing needs of the business and shortly thereafter took the decision to make around 700 staff redundant.”

An employee helpline has been set up at 0845 0176699.

About 100 workers gathered outside the Connaught building in the Kirkdale area of Merseyside in protest at their treatment.

Jimmy O’Malley, 33, was a joiner for the company told a local BBC  reporter that he was “totally shocked” by the manner in which they were told.

“I called the number I was given and it was an open conference call. It was a surreal, weird situation.

“Every other message we’ve had has been delivered in a calm, professional manner,” he said.

“People should be treated with dignity and respect – not like that.”

O’Malley said there was a loyal workforce in Sefton and people had turned up for work knowing they may not be paid.