DOZENS of staff at the Southampton branch of ailing department store chain Allders are facing an uncertain future.

Forty-two workers have been left in limbo after their store was not one of 24 sold in deals with retail rivals.

Nine staff at the Winchester Road branch of Allders have already lost their jobs as part of a nationwide cull of 800 positions in the wake of the chain's collapse into administration because of huge debts.

However, there was a glimmer of hope for the chain's 4,100

pension scheme members thanks to a promise from the administrators to keep the scheme open at least until June.

Andrew Pepper, of administrators Kroll, agreed to continue to make £58,150 contributions a month to the scheme.

The fund, which has a £14m deficit that would turn into £58m if it were forced to wind up, will now have sufficient funds for it to continue until it becomes eligible for the Pension Protection Fund, the government's pensions lifeboat, which becomes active on April 6.

Across Britain, 24 Allders stores were sold to Debenhams, BHS and Primark, including Portsmouth's branch which has seen 21 redundancies.

Kroll said it is now reviewing all options for the remaining 21 stores' futures.

Commenting on the deals, Andrew Pepper, joint administrator, said: "We are delighted to be able to announce the completion of deals for 24 stores, which will hopefully safeguard more than 2,000 jobs.

Alastair Beveridge, joint administrator, added: "We are very pleased that the business has held together so well during the few weeks of the administration and we have experienced good trading throughout the stores.

"For instance, the trading over the weekend was nearly three times the norm for this time of year, highlighting the excellent support shown by customers and employees.

"We will now focus on the options for the remaining stores and the head office."

Staff have set up a website, www.alldersreunited.com, so that they can keep former employees abreast of their fight to retain their pensions. The new website, which is backed by former directors of Allders, has chat boards and will update workers and pensioners on the latest news.