28 years of trading and run out of money, help needed.

hello , im a new member and this is my first post and i do need some advise.
ive run a small bed shop for some 28 years now and this resession has finally taken its toll , my company is limited .
we had a overdraft facility with the bank for £10,000 which we was in and out of in the last year , i carried on trading hoping we could weather the storm as such but this last winter and the long freeze absolutly was the last straw. we saw turnover go from a healthy £6000 a week in 2008 down to £3500 in 2009 down to a final £1600 a week in march this year.the final straw was the bank stopped out company credit card and started to not pay on our cheques , we were sunk. i hadnt anitcipated this , maybe i was hoping it would pull round but we had been slowly loosing £200 a week for the last 18 months , stock was down as we was selling it off the shop floor to pay wages , overheads , suppliers.
i have 1 member of staff and myself , when the cheques stopped being authurised by the bank i told him of the situation , hes not stupid and has known for a while we was in trouble. the end came rapidly as the following week i told my member of staff i couldnt pay his wages , i sold some more stock off the shop floor and paid him what i owed him and £500 towards holiday pay and that was it , he was redundent.
heres the problem. he has run to a solicitor and claimed redundency and holiday pay for 18 years service. the company owes bank £12,500 , owes suppliers approx £10,000, and owes rent to landlord. there is approx £2000 in stock value left in the company. i cant even afford to go into adminerstration , the company has no money , i had to roll down the shutters and close shop.
i had learned that hes gone to a tribuneral and has been awarded £6,000 and thats being paid by the govenment and hes been awarded £2800 in holiday pay which the company has to find. if the company has no money ..and it has not got any , theres stock that if it was siezed by a balliff wouldnt bring £300 how can it pay ? his solicitors has asked we put the company intom adminerstration and send him his holiday pay , we cant afford neither.
my accountant has applied to have the company struck off the register , we have done the books till the end of trading and have informed the v.a.t.and revenue of our circumstances. he also has written to his solicitor telling him that the company is not in a position to employ an administrator and will not be doing.
where do i stand. i was and legally still am the director of the company that had ceased trading .any advise would be good as im slowly loosing the will to live , just one bad down hill struggle thats never ending .

That's a pretty tight situation you are in. To help you in a better way I would like to something, do you have any proof of paying the worker his wages and all the other things he owes? If the answer to the question is yes, then I would suggest you to consult an attorney as he would be able to provide you with some better understanding of the situation that you are in.

Firstly if your member of staff has been with you 18 years he was absolutely right to claim his redundancy money and any holiday pay or other monies outstanding. It's just you talk about him 'running' to a solicitor as if he was doing something wrong or unhelpful.

In fact from his point of view it's wrong that he had to go as far as paying a solicitor and going all the way to a tribunal to get his money - I understand you are not in a position financially to pay him but it's fairly easy for you to just fill in a form confirming in writing that you can't pay him what he's owed, which would have allowed him to claim from the government straightaway without solicitors and tribunals.

Sorry to be harsh and I know you are in difficult circumstances but you talk as if your employee is the one who has done something wrong.

I would suggest you have a look at the Insolvency Service website, there are some publications and guidance on there which may help you in terms of how to wind up your company.
Try these links. The Insolvency Service Website

Publications and Guidance Material Issued by The Insolvency Service

Otherwise I would suggest speaking to the CAB or a debt counsellor about the best way forward.