PENSIONERS have warned Oxfordshire County Council that cost-cutting reforms could threaten the future of Didcot Day Centre.

Hundreds of clients of the Britwell Road centre have signed a petition against the changes and said they feared the quality of service would decline.

The council is considering inviting private companies and charities to make bids to run the centre, but users say any change of management would lead to a worse service and risk the jobs of staff.

They warned that further reforms due in the autumn —which will mean pensioners are given cash lump sums to spend on their own care services — will deter people from going to the day centre and threaten its future.

Joyce Fagan, 80, from Didcot, said: “We will lose so much if we are privatised.

“Our worry is that the day centre will change, the prices will go up, the quality will go down, and we will not have as much input as we do now.

“We want to stay with the present staff, and if a new company comes in, we fear it will bring in its own people.”

Mrs Fagan said new ‘self-directed support’, designed to let people choose how they spend their individual care budget, would lead to pensioners leaving the day centre.

Current users would be able to spend their money elsewhere — in pubs or local clubs — if it is proved those places provide social interaction for them in a safe, legal and cost-effective environment.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Louise Mendonça said: “Our early experiences of this in the county suggest that when people have control over the money available for their care, they often choose to spend it on things that cost less than ‘traditional’ services or are even free, and typically under-spend — nationally, this under-spend figure is seven per cent.”

But Mrs Fagan said: “If people go away and spend their money elsewhere, it is going to affect all of us.

“It is disgusting. If nobody chooses to come here, it will have to close.”

Fellow day centre user Eleanor Cracknell, 79, said: “So many people are home alone and do not even get to talk to anyone.

“Here, they get to meet and talk. It takes us out of ourselves.

“The majority of the people here are able to speak for themselves, and they are all against these changes.”

Each week, 150 pensioners use the day centre.

Already, 300 people in Didcot and 1,000 across Oxfordshire, have signed the petition against the planned changes.

During the coming years, the county council wants to make 25 per cent efficiency savings from the adult social care budget. It already spends more than twice the local authority average on day services.

Ms Mendonça said: “The future of our current day centres will depend on which models of service go forward. Day services will be preserved and the aim is to deliver better outcomes tailored to individual need.”