Elderly residents are refusing to leave their care home in Fife in an attempt to stop the Church of Scotland from closing it down.

Relatives of 17 residents at Leslie House in Glenrothes are withholding their consent for them to be moved out at the end of the month.

The Church of Scotland said it was wrong to use the residents as "pawns in a game".

The families are considering legal action over the Kirk's decision to close five of its homes.

Ross Vettraino: Board has not considered options

Spokesman for the families, Ross Vettraino, said the Kirk has refused to consider any option but closure.

Mr Vettraino, whose 92-year-old mother is among the group, claimed there were commercial options available to the Kirk, such as developing land within the grounds of Leslie House.

He said: "The board of social responsibility, who runs social care services on behalf of the Church Of Scotland, seems to have set its face against any alternative."

David Kellock, depute director of the Kirk's Board of Social Responsibility said other options had been considered, without success.

He said: "We have looked and discussed with private providers to see whether there would be the possibility of the service being taken on by someone else.

Budget deficit

"We have looked at the possibility of developing the site, and that's not going to be practicable.

"Any ways we have sought to provide a better service on site just have not worked out."

The Church of Scotland has long campaigned for better funding to be provided by the Scottish Executive and local authorities to help it meet the cost of care homes.

The Kirk said that Leslie House has run at a deficit of �160,000 a year and it can no longer afford to keep up that level of spending.

Mr Kellock said the board of social responsibility needed to cut its budget.

"We had to make savings because our deficit was going to be �7m this year, which can't be sustained," he said.

Private accommodation

He added that the premises were no longer suitable to house elderly people.

The final decision to close five of its elderly care homes was taken by the Church of Scotland in April.

One of the five, Rubislaw Park in Aberdeen, has been saved from closure since the decision.

The Kirk reached a deal with the city council which will see the creation of a 52-bed nursing home at the site.

Dunselma at Fenwick, Mayburn House at Loanhead, Midlothian and Queen Mary House in Glasgow are all scheduled to close with occupants being moved to a mixture of private and public accommodation.