SOCIAL services looked to be floundering last autumn. Worcestershire County Cou-ncil's chief executive, Rob Sykes, admitted in September the department was set to chalk up a budget deficit of £4.6m by April 2001.

The director of social services, Peter Gilbert, was off on sick leave and an inquiry into the overspend, which had been increasing month by month, had been ordered.

One of the most worrying features of the deficit problem was the fact that the previous year social services had gone over budget, prompting questions about why the lessons had not been learnt.

Worcestershire County Council ended the past financial year with a deficit in social services of £1.9m.

The £4.6m deficit was reduced by taking £2m from the capital account that had been earmarked for building a replacement school for Cliffey House special school.

The council insists the new school will be built and the project has been delayed rather than axed. The authority also took £1m from its reserves.

Councillor Peter Pinfield, the portfolio holder for social services and health issues, said this week that the council has since improved its procedures.

"I've just been passed a note by the senior accountant here that says, based on the information gathered during the first six weeks of this financial year, we are due to stay within budget," he said.

The council was able to tighten its financial belt during the autumn and winter principally by cutting spending on children's services.

The deficit had been caused largely because of the spiralling costs of putting youngsters in privately-run homes, some of which charged £100,000 a year.

"We're now adopting more cost-effective measures - I'd prefer that phrase to cheaper measures," said Coun Pinfield.

"The number of children going into care has gone down. More of them are being placed with foster parents, or staying with their parents.

"It seems the Government and the county council have both accepted the need to increase our funding, as the budget for this year has gone up by £4 and is now about £85m."

6 WORCESTERSHIRE County Council sold several care homes in 1999 to a private consortium.

The council believed it would be more cost-effective to use the voluntary or private sector than in-house management.