A WOMAN who continued working at a care home after being banned has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.

Agnes Mott, 64, of Saxmundham Way, Clacton, admitted a charge of engaging in regulated activity from which she was barred under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act.

She did not tell her employer at Corner Lodge Care Home, in Clacton, which looks after people with dementia, she had been placed on the banned list as she could not afford to lose her job.

It was not mentioned in court why she was placed on the list in 2010.

Mott appeared in court in June for the same offence, and was given a conditional discharge.

James O’Toole, mitigating, at Colchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday said: “She is a lady who has been working in the care profession for a large part of her adult life.

“She had this job and she kept it.

“It was a financial necessity.

She bitterly regrets that decision.

She’s not going to do anything like that again.”

The court heard when the care home found out she was on the list, she was fired.

As a result she lost her home, and is now living with her son.

She has now found a new job as a cleaner. Chairman of the bench Alan Hayman said: “You were extremely foolish to go on working at this care home after you were brought to court and given a conditional discharge.”

She was ordered to complete 20 hours of unpaid work for the original offence, and another 20 for the latest offence.

She will also pay £40 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.