Dozens of support staff at ailing retail chain Woolworths in Rochdale have been made redundant, administrators have announced.

About 450 jobs will be axed in total at the firm’s base in Castleton and its head office in London.

Administrators at Deloitte confirmed there had been no job losses in Woolworths high street stores and distribution centres.

The news came on Friday as Woolworths holds its “biggest ever” sale, with administrators continuing talks to potential buyers of the troubled retailer.

Neville Kahn, joint administrator and reorganisation services partner at Deloitte, said: “The stores and distribution centres will continue to trade as normal, but with a simplified core structure supporting them.

”The administrators, supported by management, are still actively seeking a purchaser for the business as a going concern, with discussions being held with a number of interested parties. We are working hard to ensure that any sale of the business, in whole or in part, will preserve jobs.”

Deloitte confirmed there had been no redundancies at Woolworths’ wholesale distribution business Entertainment UK, which was also placed in administration last week.

More than 1,100 staff in total work at the affected London and Castleton operations.

Jobcentre staff will be attending both sites to provide support and advice to employees who have been made redundant, according to administrators.

The Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service has also put together a special team to quickly approve claims for employee entitlements.