Families have said they are ‘extremely concerned’ at Buckinghamshire Council’s plans to close and sell off adult day centres to save money.

Selling the day centre in Burnham, along with Hillcrest in High Wycombe and Seeleys House in Beaconsfield could raise between £2.14 million and £6.77 million if the council’s ‘preferred plan’ is taken forward.

Meanwhile, the Buckingham Day Opportunities Centre would be repurposed for the provision of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

The council says it will provide the services lost at the four sites above at its other three day centres in Aylesbury, Chesham and Spring Valley in High Wycombe, which will remain open.

Leaders of the unitary authority have stressed that the proposals are only plans at this stage and has agreed to consult with members of the public and families of the users of the centres.

However, parents are worried about the effects of the changes on their adult children, many of whom receive support for needs including learning and physical disabilities, profound autism, mental health or dementia.

Sandra Meller’s 29-year-old son, who has profound disabilities, has attended both Seeleys House and respite since leaving school.

She told the Bucks Free Press: “We are extremely concerned about what the council’s plans will mean for us as a family.

“Our son is safe and well looked after in both places and receives physiotherapy and stimulation at the day centre in particular.”

The council says the closure of day centres is necessary because of what it claims are the huge costs involved in running the sites, their low usage rates and a move away from ‘building-based’ care towards more provision and support in the community.

On top of this, the unitary authority claims to have spent £3.4 million in 2023/24 on provision for day care and overnight respite for 128 adults – an alleged drop in attendance of 61 per cent since 2020.

However, the day centres and respite provide a vital lifeline for people who use the service such as Sandra and her partner.

She said: “We are able as a couple to enjoy our days and evenings out without worry as our son is with people who know him well at both places.

“We have tried other respite places – one outside the county and another in Aylesbury – but neither provided what we needed for our son.”

She added: “As a family we need what we currently have – safe places for our son with people we can trust to look after him in all aspects.”

The council says it wanted to support adults to ‘live well in the community’, as well as offer supported adults ‘high quality’ facilities and buildings to meet their needs, and that it must provide value for money to the council and taxpayers.

It claims it must save £14.4 million from its adult social care budget by April 2026, including £700,000 from the ‘short breaks service’ which offers activities and life skills sessions at day centres.

However, some families have questioned the council’s claims that the centres are ‘underused’, arguing that the authority prevented users from returning to the sites after the Covid-19 pandemic, before effectively saying, ‘we need to close some centres because usage is low’.

One parent, whose son uses an affected day centre, told the Free Press: “The centres are not full capacity because Bucks Council stopped service users from coming back after Covid.

“The homes are struggling to provide services in-house, and their service users want to go back to day centres.”

The council’s cabinet – its decision-making executive – approved a public consultation on the plans on Tuesday morning.

The cabinet member for health and wellbeing Angela Macpherson told the meeting that this would last for 12 weeks rather than eight weeks due the ‘importance and sensitivities’ of the plans.

Cllr Macpherson said service users, carers and councillors would also be briefed on the plans, while MPs had already been informed.

She said: “Nothing is a done deal. There is a preferred option about repurposing and rationalising our day centres.

“There are challenges with our day centres that are council-run. Some are underused and in poor condition.”

Council leader Martin Tett also said that he recognised ‘how controversial and emotive’ the council’s plans were.

Cllr Macpherson said that if the plans were approved, they would not be implemented until 2026.