SACKED workers staged a protest outside a Malvern care home after it shut its doors suddenly this week.

The Old Vicarage Care Home in Tibberton Road, Malvern, closed on Monday, less than two weeks after its eight residents were moved because of a faulty boiler.

Yesterday the 15-strong group of staff gathered outside the home asking how they would feed their family this Christmas without jobs.

Former manager Mary Corbett said they were waiting to find out if they will get their final wage on December 20 and have yet to receive their P45 documents.

Mrs Corbett said: “It all started when the boiler broke down.

The directors were in Sri Lanka so we had to get the Care Quality Commission and Worcestershire County Council.

“On Monday, December 9, they (the directors) had a meeting with us and said they couldn’t give us wages or a letter so that we could go and say our employment was terminated.

“We are stuck with nothing. We were told the closure was due to staff insufficiencies and sickness, two people have cancer.

“They are now clearing out the home.

“We are trying to sort legal advice.

“They said they would send us a letter but they haven’t.

“I am pretty angry. How am I going to feed my family at Christmas without a job?”

Wickrama Sumanasuriya, director, said the home had been forced to close after it lost a contract to provide care for the elderly.

“We lost our contract with the county council, that means we haven’t got the money.

“We have pumped £150,000 of our own money in the last two to three years. The liquidators will sort out everything.

“I am very upset about the whole thing.

“I feel really sorry for the residents, this must have been a big upheaval for them.”

Mr Sumanasuriya said staff should receive letters in the next few days and be paid in full before Christmas.

A county council spokesman said they could not comment on the homes current circumstances She said: “The county council has done everything we can to ensure the wellbeing of our residents who were at the Old Vicarage Care Home. Following a number of concerns, we liaised with residents and their families to ensure the alternative arrangements met their immediate needs.

“These residents were moved in late November and are now settled in alternative accommodation.”

Liquidator Butcher Woods confirmed that it was meeting with Mr Sumanasuriya last night but said it had yet to receive formal instructions.

When your Malvern Gazette arrived to take a photograph, police had advised the group to leave the premises as there wouldn't be any resolution that day.