DESPERATE times for social services have helped lead to a 6.5 per cent rise in next year's council tax.

Bosses are setting aside £1 million to meet another probable overspend in 2002/03.

It follows another traumatic year for the department, which is forecast to be £1.5 million in the red this year.

And councillors warn that "radical" changes to services are on the cards to balance the budget in future years.

The budget, as presented to members at Wednesday's (Feb 13) executive, means that the bill for a Band A house will rise by almost £40 to £646, and by nearly £60 to £970 for a Band D property.

It means that councillors have imposed council tax rises of 41 per cent in six years.

The figures have to be approved by council on February 27, and may change slightly: the region's police and fire services have yet to decide how much to levy Greater Manchester councils for their services.

Councillor Derek Boden, executive member for resources, said he did not expect to be "the most popular man in the borough" after this.

He added: "I accept that quite a lot of people will query this, and cannot understand why it's necessary to put council tax up by that amount when inflation is around 2.5 per cent.

"But we have tried to explain to people the reasons why, through meetings like the area boards."

Coun Boden bemoaned last-minute changes to the funding system, which he said had again benefited London at Bury's expense. These changes had cost the borough £700,000.

The Government had given Bury a funding increase of 4.2 per cent, which was 1.1 per cent below the national average.

However, there is good news for schools. Bury is "passporting" its full £3.2 million increase in education funding onto them.

The budget assumes pay awards of 3.5 per cent for teachers, and 3 per cent for other staff.

Social services faces a £3.1 million "hot spot" next year, mainly through increased costs for home care and elderly persons' homes.

Coun Boden said that, even if all the department's cost-cutting action plans work, it faces a £1.2 million shortfall. This is why a £1 million reserve was needed, plus a further £250,000 for other service improvements. All told, the council had to find £3.2 million to close the gap. This will be found from reserves, £1.7 million of savings, Bury's airport dividend, and by increasing council tax by half a per cent more than the national average, i.e. 6.5 per cent.

Coun Boden said members would have to consider "radical reviews" of services over the coming nine months.

"It has been ever more difficult to find efficiency savings that could be made without an adverse impact on services," he says, "and it has also become clear that the demand pressures within social services are unlikely to relent."

This what you will pay (subject to ratification by council on February 27):

Band A £646.74 (up from £607.26)

Band B £754.52 (£708.47)

Band C £862.31 (£809.67)

Band D £970.10 (£910.89)

Band E £1,185.68 (£1,113.31)

Band F £1,401.25 (£1,315.73)

Band G £1,616.83 (£1,518.15)

Band H £1,940.20 (£1,821.78)