HUNDREDS of county council care staff are set to be axed after the authority announced plans to end the service to save £2.5m.

Oxfordshire County Council said its home support, meals, laundry and night care services, which are provided to 600 older people, are no longer financially viable.

In future, those who need home help will have to pay for it themselves from personal budgets.

The announcement affects 360 care staff and County Hall hopes some will be transferred to private providers.

But it has said redundancies are likely.

The proposal is set to be agreed in principle at a meeting on December 21 before a final decision in April 2011.

Councillor Arash Fatemian, the Conservative council’s cabinet member for adult services, said the move to personal budgets was led by central Government.

He said: “Prices charged by external providers for home support services nationally and locally are becoming more competitive and they are cheaper than the service which this council currently provides.

“This can only be a positive thing for service users on personal budgets, who would seek to get best value from the resources available to them.”

Home support for older people has been provided by County Hall for more than two decades and had been seen as a core function of local authorities.

In addition to axeing care staff, the council announced last week its travel service for older people would also be cut, saving £1.3m. Overall, it is cutting £17m from its social care budget as it seeks to find savings of £155m over the next four years.

Labour’s deputy leader at County Hall, Richard Stevens, said: “The concept of personalisation is dangerous when its used to simply cut costs, as in this case.

“Personal budgets are not for everyone and were not intended for everyone.

“What happens if a private agency providing care services goes bust? We need a cushion to fall back on.”

Under the plans, older people with personal budgets would have a number of options to buy services including going to the private sector service using a direct payment or contracting care via the county council.

Other local authorities that have made similar changes to home support arrangements include Hertfordshire County Council, Essex County Council and the London boroughs of Croydon and Southwark.