CARE home places, care workers and transport to day centres are set to be axed under plans for deep cuts to adult social care.

Last night, county council leaders admitted plans to strip £37m from the care budget over the next four years were giving them the biggest budget headache.

That figure dwarfs the £2m proposed cut to library funding or the £12m that will be removed from the highways budget.

But, unlike cutting library funding, which produces a guaranteed saving, the lion’s share of the cuts to adult social services are based on “efficiency” strategies yet to be tested.

Today we reveal where the axe could fall.

Council leaders say much of the cash could be saved by negotiating “contract efficiencies” and limiting the need for expensive residential care in the hope of saving more than £20m.

But they admit they face increasing pressures on the service from an ageing population and rising numbers suffering from conditions such as dementia.

Council leader Keith Mitchell said the £37m savings were his “biggest worry” in what is already an unprecedented four-year budget to cut £119m.

He said the strategy posed a risk as it was hard to predict the future demand on services, which cost the council £171m this year.

And political opponents believe the council is pursuing the right policy but at the wrong time.

The county provides care packages for about 11,000 people, of which 1,700 are in residential care.

Mr Mitchell said: “It is going to be tough and it’s where we may find pressures with more elderly people coming through or more people with learning disabilities. You can’t predict that.”

Senior Tories at the county council believe too much attention has been focused on the library debate at the expense of adult social care.

If the strategy is a success, about £17m is earmarked to be reinvested to cope with the ageing population.

But, if it fails, the council would be forced to plunder its cash reserves to ensure vital services are delivered.

Larry Sanders, leader of the council’s Green group, said: “If you bring this in on the right timescale, with the right monitoring and with the right packages, it would work.

“But it cannot work when you’re taking out these sorts of sums of money.”

County council spokes- man Paul Smith said: “The council is following the same pattern as all other councils in trying to provide better and more personally tailored outcomes for individuals that, at the same time, cost less.”

The council’s budget is set to be agreed on Tuesday.

A spokesman for NHS Oxfordshire, the county’s primary care trust, said it was working with the council to do “ some of the same but more efficiently”.