AGE Concern has been unable to find emergency funding to keep day centres open in Okehampton and Hatherleigh — both will close next week.
Withdrawal of support from Social Services and cuts in funding for day care in West Devon have forced the move which will also include the closure of the Age Concern Information Centre in Okehampton and the loss of two jobs.
Rev Barrie Duke, chief officer of Age Concern in Okehampton, said because Hatherleigh and Okehampton day centres were manned by paid staff they were the first to go. Day centres in Halwill Junction, North Tawton, Whiddon Down and Chagford, which are run by volunteers, will stay open.
Mr Duke had hoped emergency funding could be found to keep the centres open but he said this week it would be six months before the charity would hear the outcome of funding bids.
Following the closure of the information centre in Okehampton, Age Concern's nearest base will be at the Winsford Centre at Halwill where there will be an increase in day care provision.
Mr Duke said from Monday the day centre in Halwill would open on a Tuesday as well as a Wednesday and he hoped some clients in Okehampton would re-locate there with transport supplied by the Winsford Centre.
'We hope to come back to Okehampton if we can possibly do so but we need to find £12,800 a year to keep the day centre running,' he said. 'At the moment there is a complete lack of planning for older people in Okehampton and the district.
'We have been trying to improve services for the elderly for ten years but now we have no idea what is going to happen.'
The day centre in Okehampton and Hatherleigh opened once a week and gave an opportunity for the elderly to get out and meet up with other people.
Mr Duke said without drop-in centres like this, many people living in isolated areas could be effectively imprisoned in their own homes and denied human contact for long periods.