The threat of “rationing” and job losses hangs over social care services with an extra £7million needed in the face of an “increasingly difficult” budget.

The latest on Pembrokeshire County Council’s budget has been discussed at committees this month and on Thursday came the stark warning that in a “worse case scenario” the authority faces a £22.2million funding gap.

At policy and pre-decision overview and scrutiny committee, cabinet member for finance Cllr Bob Kilmister apologised for being the “harbinger of doom” but said the council faced “some very, very hard decisions.”

He said that pressures from adult social services and children services were hitting the overall budget hard and an extra £7million was needed which he said “is a massive ask.”

A service prioritisation was currently underway but without increased central government funding the situation would be difficult to overcome, and was being faced by authorities across the UK said Cllr Kilmister.

The committee heard that in the best case scenario the council faced a £13.6million funding gap in its Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) due to Welsh Government funding changes and a higher than budgeted teacher pay award.

“We are nearly in a situation where we have to ration adult social care because we cannot afford to do anything else. There’s been a 65 per cent increase in their budget over the last few years and that’s taking into account savings and cost efficiencies made,” said Cllr Kilmister.

“There will have to be a reduction in staff members that’s absolutely clear,” he added, with discussion with unions already happening.

The issue with underfunding has been overlooked for 20 years Cllr Kilmister told members and was now coming to a head. He called for a greater integrated approach with health services while director of finance Jon Haswell said the “inefficient” NHS bodies were allowed to deliver unbalanced budgets to the Welsh Government while councils were not.

Mr Haswell also warned of further possible council tax hikes with the outlined 10 per cent increase in the MTFP no longer sufficient.

Cllr Kilmister said that the political steer of a five per cent increase was “going to be difficult to achieve.”

The news came as part of a discussion on the Finance Panel’s update report and the committee agreed to include a focus on adult social services at its next meeting.