A CHARITY is facing closure after losing 95 per cent of its income in just a year.

Oxfordshire Children and Voluntary Youth Services (OCVYS) is on the brink of closure after making all but one of its staff redundant.

It fears it will close for good in the next six months if no more money is found.

Director Anna Day will soon be its only member of staff.

The charity, which was set up 40 years ago, claims to have put nearly 4,000 young people aged between 16 and 25 into volunteering in local charities over the past four years.

Ms Day said: “We have lost a variety of grants recently, but we were getting £8,000 from the county council which is being cut at the end of March.

“We had managed to keep the service going on this but with that being cut it leaves us in a very difficult position.

“We have made 10 of our staff redundant and that had an impact on our ability to deliver programmes.

“If nothing changes we face closure in six months.”

Last year the group stopped actively going into schools and youth centres, linking up young people with volunteering projects, when the government funding for the V Project came to an end.

It still maintains the database of volunteers.

This project came with £600,000 of funding from central government over three years to help with costs, but funding stopped last April.

A £35,000 grant from the county council for training people to do youth work was also cut and the charity has been dipping into its reserves.

OCVYS is now operating at five per cent of the budget it had last year, which was about £200,000.

Treasurer Mike Watkinson said the charity had no other forms of income and could only exist for “a few months” on its reserves.

It will also be moving from its base in the United Reformed Church in Oxford Road, Cowley, at the end of this month because of the lack of funds. A new home has not yet been found.

The charity also provides advice and support to youth organisations and nearly 90 of them have benefited from its support.

It has placed volunteers in some 600 charities, including the Blue Cross and Natural England.

Ms Day said the charity’s work was needed now more than ever.

She said: “At a time when civil society needs more volunteers than ever to operate, and youth unemployment is at a record high, there is no logical reason why this programme should close.”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said: “The county council provided annual funding of £8,000 to the Oxfordshire Children and Voluntary Youth Services from April 2009. This was a fixed contract which is due to come to an end this month.”

Anyone looking to help OCVYS can contact the charity on 01865 774004 or email enquiries@ocvys.org