Former employees of the shared-ownership companies, which went into administration last month, have contacted PrintWeek to say that the pay cut they were asked to take was 15%, not the 10% cut that was originally reported, and that suggestions they had offered to save the company went unheeded.

Former machinery manager Lawrence McCormack said: "We had already accepted a reduction in overtime, which was now being paid at normal time. We had a number of suggestions on how to save the company but our ideas and questions were not answered."

Another former employee Michael Hanson said: "We tried to help and push the business forward, but our suggestions were not listened to."

"When the idea of a 15% paycut was suggested, we wrote a letter requesting consultation as we were concerned that if the company shut, our redundancy pay would be affected," added print finisher Ian Mant.

Mark Wood, former managing director of the two companies, said that the 10% figure originally cited in PrintWeek was reported in error and that he had asked staff to have a meeting, but they never came back with further ideas, instead requesting consultation.

"We had to move quickly to save the business," he added.