Councils need more funding from the budget according to Westcountry finance chief

The finance boss at a West Country council has told us authorities across the country desperately need more funding out of this week's Budget.

On Wednesday the new Labour government will finally announce its spending plans for the next year, nearly four months after being elected.

Mark Elliot from Bath and North East Somerset Council says the thing they need the most help with, is paying for social care: "So people need to understand that for those councils that are responsible for social care, social care is the major thing they end up doing now. 50% of our entire revenue budget is spent on social care and it is escalating hugely. Council finances are pretty broken, I mean, completely broken really."

With authorities across the country on the verge of bankruptcy, he says things need to change: "Council Tax is only funding about a third of our budget, and the central government funding has gone down by about as much as the council tax has gone up in the last ten years. So whilst you're seeing your council tax bills go up and up and up, our funding at the council has remained pretty static."