An employment tribunal has awarded £750,000 compensation to 98 workers who were made redundant from Aylesford Newsprint last year without consultation.

Members of Unite the union will only receive £321,000 of that figure because they are classed as unsecured creditors of the Larkfield-based company, which went into administration last February.

The figure could be boosted by the sale of the land and machinery, expected to raise several million pounds.

The tribunal ruled the company dismissed 20 or more employees without proper consultation with their representative.

In an insolvency situation employees can claim up to eight weeks’ pay arrears capped at the statutory maximum (in this case £464 per week) from the government’s redundancy fund.

Eighty workers who were dismissed in February should each have received eight weeks’ pay. They are expected to receive in the region of £3,700 each - a total of £296,000.

Eighteen workers who were dismissed in April should each receive three weeks’ pay from the redundancy fund which will amount to about £1,300 per person - £25,000 in total.

Tim Elliott, Unite regional officer, said: “The total value of the ‘protective’ award to our members is about £750,000. However, as the company is insolvent it is unlikely we will recover the full amount. The £321,000 will be paid to our members from the government’s redundancy fund.

“The sale of the company’s land will raise several million pounds and so it is possible that our members may also recover additional cash on top of that paid by the fund, but it won’t be the full amount.

“While we know that our members won’t get the full amount they deserve and are owed, Unite’s legal services team battled to get them the maximum amount possible under current legislation.”

The Dry End Road paper mill closed last year resulting in 300 job losses, it had since been revealed the site, valued at £30m, will be developed.

Three options are being floated, with one fully commercial proposal and two plans mixing homes and businesses.