For the 4,500 former Lehman Brothers employees in the City, the week has begun very differently to how they expected. Many will have already packed up their belongings and left the office for the last time, with little idea of where to go next. But there are options available to them.

Administrator PwC said at a conference Monday Lehman's staff might not get paid for this month, and still have no indication of whether a redundancy package would be given or outplacement would be organised.