The administrators’ report has highlighted that FRP partners’ charges had increased from £495-£595 an hour to between £595-£695, while a junior professional and support staff rate had also risen from £150-£195 to between £175 and £245.

FRP Advisory was appointed to Debenhams in April 2020 after the retailer went bankrupt for a second time, shortly after lockdowns forced the closure of its stores. It oversaw the sale of the 200-year-old department store’s brand and website to Boohoo for £55 million last January.

In April 2020, Debenhams appointed Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory to advise in relation to the possible administration of the firm. FRP oversaw the sale of the department store’s brand to fashion retailer Boohoo for £55m in January 2021.

The deal with Boohoo resulted in 12,000 job losses and 124 store closures. Almost 90% of the chain’s former shops remain unoccupied, The Times reports.

According to new documents, Debenhams’ hedge funds have now received £314m from the administration process, while unsecured creditors, which includes local authorities, HMRC and defined benefit pension schemes, are unlikely to receive any return.

It has been reported that there were about £200m of trade creditor claims at the time of the retailer’s administration. The hedge funds have made most of their money back from the sale of the Danish business Magasin du Nord for £120m.

When approached by Scottish Financial News, an FRP spokesman declined to comment.