Staff forced out of a care home which shut suddenly last week say they have been left in limbo by the owner who refuses to say whether they still have jobs.

Around 20 workers employed by Purefleet Limited at Fairmount Lodge care home in Shipley are without work less than three weeks before Christmas after it closed for extension and refurbishment work.

The care home for the elderly, in Otley Road, shut on Friday and Purefleet director, Liaqat Ali, said at the time it would be closed for 12 weeks. But staff said Mr Ali ignored them when confronted on the future of their jobs.

Manager Lisa Holt, 34, of Dockfield Place, Shipley, is on maternity leave and claims she has not been paid for nearly five weeks. She said she and another member of staff were not paid when everyone else was at the beginning of the week.

Mother-of-one Mrs Holt has worked at Fairmount for more than six years.

She said: "It has left me penniless and it's Christmas. The only way I may be able to get my pay is to take him to an employment tribunal, but how can I do that if he hasn't said either way if I've got a job or not."

Julie Hollis, 39, of Owlet Road, is the home's deputy manager and has worked there for 20 months.

She said: "We don't know where we are, we don't know if we still have a job and because he says he is reopening it we haven't been made redundant. We asked him if we still have jobs and he ignored us.

"I couldn't have made it through this last week if it wasn't for the rest of the staff, they were magnificent after we heard it would close and worked hard to rehome the patients."

Social care watchdog, the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate, slated the conditions that staff and residents had to endure at the home in a report based on an inspection in September.

Staff training and the poor condition of the building were criticised in the report and 26 separate requirements and three recommendations were listed to bring the home up to expected standards.

Mrs Holt said: "Any free training through different colleges was no problem.

"Any which required payment we found that when we went to book it we couldn't.

"As for the building it is in a poor state. We made minor repairs that we could, such as replacing light bulbs, and staff donated soft furnishings.

"We gave Mr Ali a weekly repair list but he always said later'."

The 12 residents of Fairmount Lodge were successfully rehomed after social services intervened.

When asked to clarify the position of his staff yesterday Mr Ali, 63, said: "No comment, we know what we are doing, everyone has been paid. The home will reopen."

He would not comment on the condition of the home.

e-mail: ben.barnett@bradford.newsquest.co.uk