After Carillion collapsed with huge losses, news emerged that hedge funds made around £300m since the Government contractor began to fail.

BlackRock – which recently hired former chancellor George Osborne on a salary of £650,000 for one day a week – the world’s biggest fund manager made over £16 million across its funds.

Now as outsource giant Capita said that dividends would be suspended and the share price plummeted, hedge funds made £90m.

IHS Markit indicated that 8.2 per cent of the Capita shares were used to bet on the hope the company would fall on hard times.

One hedge fund firm booked £30m in a day.

The firm employs 70,000 people, about 50,000 of whom are in the UK.

According to Tussell, a firm which analyses UK public sector contracts, Capita won 154 government contracts last year.

Almost one billion was wiped off the Capita’s stock market valuation, and shares fell almost 50 per cent, in a day following the bleak outlook for the company.