The £5.6m full and final settlement payout is the first tranche of compensation to members of construction union UCATT from major contractors caught up in the blacklisting scandal.

Some individual payments among the bricklayers and carpenters were as high as £200,000 to compensate workers for years when they were denied employment.

Negotiations for a further 89 workers who were victims of blacklisting are also on going. If these are not settled, the cases will go to trial in May.

Other cases involving hundreds of blacklisted workers are pending with the backing of the unions Unite and GMB, and the Blacklist Support Group.

Brian Rye, acting general secretary of UCATT, said: “The union has been fighting the blacklisting case since the day it was revealed.

“This initial tranche of compensation is the first significant milestone in the battle to win justice for blacklisted workers.”

As well as financial compensation, the union’s lawyers are also trying to secure a formal apology made in the High Court to the victims of blacklisting.

They also want agreement that contractors concerned will provide training and future support to any of the victims who require it in order to assist them re-joining the industry.

There is also a determination to ensure that all documentation in the case is preserved so that if a public inquiry is secured into the scandal, the information can be properly examined.

UCATT’s lawyers are also attempting to secure a guarantee that if any further documents are discovered relating to the blacklisting of workers or their personal information, the individual is given access to them and they are then destroyed by the blacklisting companies, in order to prevent future blacklisting.