SOUTHAMPTON'S social services bosses have admitted they are "going to have problems" plugging a yawning £700,000 gap in their budget next year.

The department is currently more than £1.4m in the red, as revealed in yesterday's Daily Echo.

City social services chiefs have already introduced a raft of cost-saving measures such as clamping down on training, leaving some administrative posts vacant and placing more children with carers in the city rather than sending them to other authorities.

But even with the measures, city bosses say they could still overspend by up to £700,000 by the end of the financial year next April.

They could even have to use cash from other areas of the council's budget if the savings cannot be made.

City chiefs have already ruled-out any cuts to frontline services.

Cabinet member for social care Councillor Ann Milton told members of the city's ruling Cabinet that social services chiefs had a "very robust" plan in place to bring the budget under control.

She blamed unforeseen costs of looking after disabled children for the financial black hole.

She said: "We could plan for children who are in need of care from birth but children have suffered car accidents which we could not be aware of. It is a very sad situation."

Last week, the Daily Echo reported that the council had received a two star or good rating from the government for its social services department.

Other costs currently giving the council a headache include about £225,000 in redundancy costs.