MENTAL health charities across Oxfordshire could be hit hard by planned county council cuts, councillors have warned.

Under Oxfordshire County Council’s proposals, it would save £1.6m over three years in two separate savings for mental health services.

Of the changes, £1m would be taken from £6.2m given to mental health trust Oxford Health in two £500,000 packets in 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Another £600,000 would be taken over two years – split equally in 2019/20 and 2020/21 budgets – from a £1.8m pot which contributes to social work run by Oxford Health.

Laura Price, Labour councillor for Witney South and Central, said she was concerned the cuts would hit voluntary and charity providers’ work.

She said: “If you talk to [mental health] organisations, they’re already facing huge pressures from the health budget that forms part of the model. £500,000 could be a really significant tipping point and I think we have to be rigorous about what that tipping point might be.

“If [the council] is going to be it we need to look again at those plans and not suggest that we can co-produce our way out of it.”

At a meeting on Thursday, Mrs Price’s Labour colleague Glynis Phillips said cuts were unfair after the county council’s director for adult social care Kate Terroni had said it was overspending addressing mental health issues.

Mrs Phillips said: “The justification of equal misery doesn’t stack up. Just because you’re making cuts to people in old age doesn’t mean you should do the same with people with mental health diagnosis. I can’t tell you how wrong it feels.”

Mrs Terroni said the council spent 10 per cent of its adult social care budget on mental health care – but that it accounted for just two per cent of all issues it deals with.

She added: “The proposed changes need to be seen in the wider context of the landscape of adult social care spend in Oxfordshire – both historically and currently.

“We have protected our contributions to mental health services while other areas of adult social care, such as day care, have seen reductions.

“Councils across the country have reduced their spend on adult social care without necessarily having protected mental health services as we have done here at Oxfordshire County Council over recent years.”

Lawrie Stratford, the council’s cabinet member for adult social care, added: “No decisions have been taken.

“We are very much in listening mode. We’ll need to hear views from the public and local organisations.”

The council’s budget will be set in February.