Gloucestershire County Council's investigation into its £3.7m social services overspend has blamed a communication breakdown within the department.

A report prepared by a scrutiny panel of councillors says community care staff "tended to work independently of each other without full appreciation of their role as part of a team".

The overspend means vital services around the county, including the Glebe Family Centre in Dursley, could face closure.

The total overspend was £6.5m but this has been reduced by making savings which the report says are "not sustainable" in the long term.

Budgetary information given to managers and councillors is described in the report as "inadequate" and the standard of financial reporting is said to be "not acceptable".

It also says that "more effort" should have be made to make councillors aware of the problem.

The overspend was caused by increased spending on children in care and community care. The scrutiny panel does not criticise the spending of this money, but highlights the failure to react to it.

It says: "Although the panel accepted there were significant spending pressures on the social services budget, the panel needed to understand why these pressures were not identified earlier, the problems managed and spending contained."

Margaret Sheather, director of social services, told The Gloucester Citizen that the lessons would be learned and called the report "independent and helpful".

She blamed the problem on the system and not individuals, saying: "It's not been a matter of pointing a finger at individuals. We will do everything we can to ensure this doesn't happen again and this report will get us as close to that as possible."

The scrutiny panel report is due to be discussed by the council's strategy and resource committee today.

Used courtesy of the Gloucester Citizen