CUMBRIA County Council continues to face “severe pressures” in social care, with demand exceeding budget in some areas.

Children looked after, younger adults, and home to school transport for children with special educational needs are among the areas where the authority is struggling.

Setting out the scale of the challenge, council leader Stewart Young said: “Local authorities which have responsibility for these services up and down the country are experiencing similar levels of demand.

“To some extent the recent [Government] spending review gave recognition of this with the announcement of some additional funding, specifically for these areas, which was welcome.

“Although I have to say it doesn’t go far enough in terms of addressing the full pressures.

“We’re very aware of the issues. There’s a lot of working going on to address them, but I would be wrong to say that this is easy.

“We remain very challenged by our financial circumstances.”