A charity which has been helping disabled people for nearly 30 years is being forced to close.

The ACE Centre, in Headington, provides communication help for vulnerable children and adults but is set to close in just over two months’ time.

The charity, based in Windmill Road, has been living off its reserves and a declining income from services commissioned by local authorities for more than a year.

But on Saturday, June 30 it will close its doors for the last time as the money is not enough to keep it going any longer.

Trustee Bill Nimmo said: “Despite significant efforts to ensure the sustainability and future of our centre, we are unable to continue to operate in the current financial climate.

“There is a great sadness we will no longer be able to continue to help the people we have supported.

“We have been trying to fundraise and promote our services to local authorities but they are under great pressure as well. But the need is still there.

“The centre leaves a considerable legacy for children, young people and adults with complex communication needs, of which we are immensely proud.”

Mr Nimmo said the charity would need £150,000 a year in order to be sustainable.

He added that Oxfordshire County Council was one of the local authorities from across the region which continued to commission services from the charity, although others had stopped using its services.

Mr Nimmo added: “It’s been a slow, endless reduction in funding and part of that was the local authority spending.”

The ACE Centre provides technology which allows people who struggle to speak, read or write to lead normal lives.

It also provides training and free information services for parents, carers and professionals within education and health services.

The centre currently helps more than 600 people with their communication difficulties from Oxfordshire to Guernsey.

Jenny Malone brought her daughter Claire from London because of her cerebral palsy.

Now aged 22, Claire is studying physics at Imperial College.

Mrs Malone said: “It has enabled my daughter to realise her potential and I am sure that without their support it would have been impossible.”

Central government funding for the charity was cut in 2010.

The centre opened in 1984 and since then has provided help to more than 5,000 people.

It was visited by the Princess Royal in 2009 as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said he had supported the charity for years.

He said: “It is an awful tragedy that the ACE Centre will have to close.

“They are a much-valued provider of caring support which children and young people with really severe communication problems need.”