BURY'S social services budget is facing another rocky ride and could end up more than a million pounds in the red.

Early projections show the department is on course to overspend by £1.3 million unless action is taken.

A project board and no fewer than five working groups have been set up to keep costs under control. While the situation is not as serious as last year, when a £2.1 million overspend was forecast, it will remain the council's top financial priority for the rest of the year.

After analysing the first three months' expenditure, finance bosses have identified several "hot spots". These are: a projected overspend of £511,000 in children's agency placements, and £413,000 in community care; a drop of £416,000 in income from home care charges; a potential maximum loss of £700,000 of "pay as you eat" income from residents in old folks homes; and £433,000 higher costs in services provided by the learning disability partnership board.

However, bosses expect this £2.4 million "worst case" scenario to come down due to: £419,000 savings from closing Claremont, Beech Grove and Warthfield residential homes; £334,000 from the Looked After Children pot; and further savings from staff vacancies in fieldwork, support services and the community drug and mental health teams. The department was also underspent by £254,000 last year, partly after securing a late extra grant.

Mr Mike Owen, director of finance and e-government, said: "The council takes budget management very seriously. It is important to identify early on in the year where there are pressures so that action can be taken to address them."

Officers have also flagged up a possible overspend of £247,000 in the education department. Some £149,000 of this concerns home-to-school transport, particularly the costs of improving vehicles to comply with disability discrimination laws.