Reports: Taxpayers face £50m bill for Comet collapse

A document to be released by administrator Deloitte will reveal insufficient funds raised to pay staff

Comet's administrators have failed to raise enough money from the sale of the chain's assets to pay the redundancy bill, reports have claimed.

A Sky News article claims that Deloitte is set to admit in a report that insufficient funds have been raised from the winding down of the electrical retail chain to pay the £24m redundancy bill for Comet's 6,000 staff.

As a result, the government will have to step in and honour the payments to staff, with the taxpayer facing a potential £50m bill.

Also in the statement, due to be published later today, is the revelation that unsecured creditors such as HMRC and thousands of holders of Comet gift cards will probably receive nothing back.

However, the tax office is still owed about £26m by Comet, and secured creditors are set to receive just under £50m back.

Deloitte has said that the last 50 stores will close for the final time tomorrow as other firms battle to grab a slice of the ailing empire.

Last month it emerged that clothing retailer TK Maxx is keen to snap up 100 "viable" stores, battling against rivals such as Dixons, Maplin, Blockbuster and B&M.

It also emerged that online white goods retailer DRL bid more than £1m to snap up the Comet web operation.

The Sunday Telegraph claimed however that there is a £95m shortfall on the amount owed at the time the chain went into administration, with ITV and Google owed £1.2m and £602,000 respectively in unpaid advertising.