The ability of the council to make savings that are “draining the life blood” out of the adult care budget have been called into question.

Concerns were raised that the £1.5m still to be found within the department’s budget would not be met at scrutiny committee on Wednesday.

The draft budget proposals for 2019-20 state that adult services has a cuts target of more than £2m, with a quarter of that identified, and also includes more than £500,000 carried over from last year.

Cllr Paul Hinge said: “The £1.57m you have got to try and find is a huge ask. There’s a lot in the report that’s going to be difficult to achieve.”

He referred to the £39m of cuts made in recent years and said it had impacted services.

“We have to do this but we shouldn’t have to do this because we are asking them to do things that’s going to cause problems.

“You can cut and cut and at the end of the day there’s nothing left and it’ll only take one major thing to go wrong and our heads are on the chopping block,” said Cllr Hinge.

Council chairman Cllr Hag Harries added that he struggled to see it as a “credible” budget, asking how confident officers were that the savings could be found.

“I don’t want to vote against the budget but this is not a credible budget in terms of adult services,” he added.

Head of finance Stephen Johnson said that the report was “open and honest” and he accepted there were risks to meeting the proposed savings but “if you don’t start a plan you won’t achieve any savings”.

Cuts included in the report to scrutiny include £15,000 savings on homelessness leased accommodation, increased charges for community based services from £80 to £100, as well as other proposed fees and charges increases generating £52,000.

The service also has a further £1.57m to be found “from service reviews either underway or planned”.

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