MORE than £400,000 funding awarded yesterday will help old folks' day centres across Oxfordshire move to a new way of working.

The second and last portion of 'transition' funding from the county council comes after it cut £3.14m from its daytime support budget in August, including permanent funding for 47 of the county's 200 day centres.

The 26 day centres who got a share of £409,770 yesterday now have to find new funding sources, get more paying clients in, or find a whole new way of operating.

Age UK Oxfordshire, which decided to shut six of its eight day centres partly because of lack of funding, is moving to a whole new model.

This will see the charity put on more daytime activities and direct its clients to classes, clubs and day centres run by other organisations.

For that reason, chief executive Penny Thewlis said she welcomed the news that grants announced yesterday will help support three new day centres – a Daybreak dementia-specialist club in Kennington, Forget Me Not in Bicester and Oasis in Witney.

She said: "The range of grants will support the development of three new day centres in areas where they are badly needed.

"It will also allow day centres which have been able to show that they have a sustainable future one more year’s funding to move towards being self-sustaining, and will provide Age UK Oxfordshire with a one-off opportunity to widen the range of activities we offer to reach more of the older people we are not currently reaching and increase the contribution we are able to make towards combating loneliness.

"Funding for this vital work is in short supply and all of us will be stretched and challenged to deliver what we want to deliver. We wish all our daytime support colleagues the best of luck in their vital endeavours."

The funding awarded yesterday actually came from two pots: the £250,000 Transition Fund and the £250,000 Sustainability Fund.

The county council's deputy director for joint commissioning Benedict Leigh recommended the council cabinet agree to award just £409,770 for the time being, and put the remaining £90,230 into a third pot - the Innovation Fund.

This was set up to support the development of new, self-sustaining initiatives, and Mr Leigh said applications would open 'in early 2018'.

In his report to cabinet, Mr Leigh also recommended that councillors 'congratulate the voluntary sector for its dedication and commitment to continuing to provide much valued services, and managing this transition process'.

He also said that daytime support was an 'important part of the lives of many people', providing 'vital links to the community that help people to live independent and fulfilling lives', but warned: "As demand for social care grows and government funding reduces, we need to make sure that daytime support is fit for the future and sustainable over the longer term."