Savings of £6.5m from Gloucestershire's social services has been condemned as an 'absolute nightmare' for hundreds of the county's most vulnerable people.

Councillors will met on Thursday to discuss how to save £6.536m from the departmental budget. That's 7.4 per cent of the total social services budget.

The solution suggested by senior officers involves cutting some services and charging more for others.

The savings have to be made because of a £3.7m overspend last year and to avoid going over budget again over the coming 12 months.

Public sector union Unison warned the saving measures would affect the most vulnerable people in the community.

High on the hit-list are home help charges, which are set to increase to help save £750,000.

Charges for meals on wheels are also set to rise to save £40,000.

Other cuts will affect disabled people in supported employment schemes.

The social services overspend has been partly caused by an increase in costs for children in care of 1.835m.

The issue was due to be discussed by social services committee members at a meeting last week but they deferred it so they could devote more time to it.

Director of social services Margaret Sheather said: "This will not be an easy year for the department but many other social services directors are facing the same pressures.

"We're confident this plan can deliver the savings the department needs to make. We've worked hard to keep service cuts to a minimum."

The county council says the plan on which committee members will vote includes a programme of savings across all areas of services to children and adults. Some of the changes will be for a year, others will be permanent.

The permanent savings include the proposed closure of Gloucester's Grafton Road day care centre for people with mental health problems and the Glebe House family centre in Dursley.

The authority says many savings will come by targeting cost-effectiveness.

But, in a report, officers warn: "Their implementation will involve change and disruption for some service users, impact on carers and significant change for staff."

Sarah Everett, secretary of the Gloucestershire branch of Unison, said: : "This is an absolute nightmare. These cuts are a knee-jerk reaction to a crisis situation which will hit the most vulnerable members of our society.

"Morale is low and over-worked, dedicated staff are feeling despondent. We're concerned for our members and members of the community."

County MPs were briefed about the cuts at a meeting yesterday, at which Mrs Sheather explained the county's social services situation.

Cheltenham's MP Nigel Jones (Lib Dem) attended, as did the county's Labour MPs Tess Kingham, David Drew and Diana Organ. Conservative MPs Laurence Robertson and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown were unable to attend

Afterwards Mr Jones described the situation in social services as 'the worst which has ever faced the county'.

He said: "Elderly, disabled and vulnerable people throughout Gloucestershire are facing a crisis because the county is so seriously underfunded. This is a massive blow caused by historically inadequate funding from central government."

Mrs Organ said: "This is obviously a serious situation. We asked for figures so we can campaign to change Gloucestershire's funding formula from central government, as we think they've got it wrong.

"I asked if the problem would be solved if they had double the money, and the answer was 'no'. This is an issue of resources but also of an absolutely unsustainable demand."

Councillor Anne Peniket said: "I'm loath to see these cuts but, sadly, that's the situation we're in. This is a very difficult situation.

"The Government has funded a lot of new projects but neglected core funding needed to run services. The only way we can cope is to cut certain services and increase charges."

Councillor Maureen Rutter, spokesperson for social services, said: "This has taken us by surprise. I don't think anybody was expecting such figures.

"I doubt there will be redundancies as we're so short-staffed already, which is a national problem.

"I think in general social services is under-funded. We're not alone. We're one of 146 authorities where social services is over-spent.

"This is something we have to get a hold of now and monitor to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Used courtesy of the Gloucestershire Newspapers