CARE home staff have reached a redundancy settlement with Darlington Borough Council after threats of legal action.

Workers at the council's last two care homes for the elderly, Westfields and The Lawns, were alleging age discrimination after older workers were offered new jobs, meaning they could not claim redundancy payments.

Younger workers who wanted to be re-employed said they were not considered for the new jobs on offer.

Last night, a council spokesman said: "The council has worked with employees and the trade unions to find a solution that would satisfy all parties. We believe we have now achieved that."

Threats of legal action from workers who alleged that their redundancies had been mishandled have now been abandoned.

All of the affected employees will receive redundancy payments.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, said last night: "We are all really pleased that they allowed us all to take redundancy.

"The jobs the older care workers had been offered in home care were completely unsuitable and would have meant us walking the streets of Darlington in the dark because many of us don't drive.

"Now we can at least get our redundancy and we can all look for new jobs. The council told us the jobs they originally offered us are unavailable and we could all take redundancy.

"For three months we have thought we would be forced to take these jobs, because we could not claim our redundancy money otherwise.

"It has been hanging over us for ages and we are just glad it is over."

Nine employees, all of whom were aged over 50, were originally offered home care posts, which involved looking after elderly people in their own homes.

Workers said that the older employees were offered the option of new jobs so the council could save money on their pensions.

The residential homes closed on Sunday and more than 60 employees have been made redundant.

Workers were given a 90-day notice period at the beginning of this year, but were then told to work until August because new private sector homes which were being built to house the residents were behind schedule.

Residents have now all been moved out into the new private sector homes.