A BRAIN injury charity fears for its future amid concerns that a major grant may not be enough to save it from county council cuts.

The Big Lottery Fund has given Headway, which helps people affected by brain damage, a £450,000 grant, which the charity will use to reach brain injury victims across the county.

Jamie Miller, chief executive of the Kennington-based charity, said it was fantastic news, but feared it would not be enough to keep the organisation going, due to “catastrophic cuts” planned by Oxfordshire County Council.

Mr Miller said: “Money from the Lottery certainly won’t be enough to keep us afloat.

“Without further funding, at the very least we’re looking at redundancies and at the worst the entire organisation folding.”

The council is facing budget cuts of £50m as it deals with reductions in funding from central government.

Mr Miller said about 70 per cent of Headway’s funding came from the county council, but its contract with the local authority would end in June 2016.

He added: “We had no definite income until we got this good news about the Lottery funding.

“Our services are holistic, we can’t offer one without the other. We need about £250,000 to £300,000 per year to keep going.”

Headway will spend the grant on its new ABI (acute brain injury) Satellite Service, which has hubs in Didcot, Bicester, Witney and central Oxford.

Mr Miller said the service allows community support workers to reach out to people with ABI, who struggle to get transport to Headway’s main base in Kennington.

As part of the satellite service, community support workers can meet patients in hospital as soon as they are discharged.

Jane Balinski, of Abingdon, has benefited from Headway’s services for the past two years.

She cares for her 55-year-old husband Conrad, who had an embolic stroke in 2012 caused by a heart infection. The stroke caused significant cognitive and speech difficulties, and epilepsy.

Mrs Balinski said of the stroke: “It was a dreadful shock because Conrad was only 52 and he was a fit and active person. He was so ill, he lost all his vocabulary, his understanding has diminished.

“It was very important after he came out of hospital that he had a range of stimulating activities so he could regain his confidence.

“He attends a Headway activity group every Thursday with lots of quizzes, word games and creative art and craft sessions.”

Mr Miller appealed for people in Oxfordshire to donate.

He said: “We are continuing discussions with the county council and the Clinical Commissioning Group. Our services directly support a reduction in hospital bed stays.

“We will do whatever we can.”