Former staff at King & Wood Mallesons are set to receive payouts from the administrators of the collapsed firm, despite a huge shortfall in funds available to pay unsecured creditors.

According to the latest report into the 2017 administration, some former firm employees have been ranked as preferential creditors, meaning they will receive payouts for wages, holiday pay and any successful claim regarding failures to consult on the redundancy process.

The administrators are in the process of calculating and paying out those distributions, the report states.

This will be in addition to the more than £1 million that 288 former KWM staff were awarded back in 2017, after they brought a claim over the way their redundancies were handled when the firm's European arm collapsed.

The latest report, which details progress made during the last six months, shows the firm's administrators Quantuma have set aside £600,000 for unsecured creditors – the maximum amount available from the collapsed firm's assets.

But the 159 claims received by the administrators from unsecured creditors of the firm and its employee holding company far outstrip that amount, hitting almost £18.9 million.

The only secured creditor of the firm is its bank, Barclays. To date it has received £6.5 million, with £500,000 paid during the period from 17 June 2018 to 16 January this year.

CMS and Pinsent Masons, which have been advising Quantuma administrators Sean Bucknall and Andrew Hosking on the process, were paid £1,340 and £18,820 respectively in the most recent review period.

The administration process is being held up due to a dispute with Standard Chartered over unpaid fees, Legal Week revealed in January.

The administration, which has been in process since January 2017, was extended once more at the start of this year after being prolonged by 12 months last January.