Administrators have agreed a £73,000 deal to cover in full the unpaid salaries of workers at three closed care homes.

The deal comes after the relocation of residents from The Old Rectory in Swanage, Delph House in Poole and Warwick Park Care Home in Plymouth, which announced in December they planned to cease trading after running into financial difficulties.

Tom Grummitt of insolvency firm Bridgewood, which was appointed in January, said: : “By the time we were appointed, some residents had already left and some of the local authorities which funded the majority of places had terminated their contracts. After taking account of this and the financial position of the homes, it was clear that we would be unable to continue to trade the homes and sell them as a going concern, so our priority was to ensure the safe relocation of the remaining residents.

“Staff worked tirelessly to maintain the quality of care and support the relocations, and we are very grateful for their efforts. Unfortunately the timing of the closures meant that under insolvency rules, they were not entitled to be paid as an expense of the administrations and would have to join the queue of creditors awaiting payment, behind the bank and HMRC.

“We felt this was extremely unfair considering all the hard work staff had put in and spoke to the bank about the situation. We are pleased to say that it has very generously agreed to put up the funds to cover the full wage bill of around £73,000. We can assure staff who stayed on that they will be paid in full in the coming days and wish them well for the future.”

The Old Rectory and Delph House were both operated by of Hantona Ltd, while Warwick Park Care Home was operated by Warwick Park House Limited. Jacqueline Haigh was the sole director of both companies. All three properties will be put on to the market, with the proceeds of the sales being used to repay creditors.

Bridgewood is part of the Dow Schofield Watts network.