WILTSHIRE'S social services is having to cut costs to reduce its overspend from more than £2m to £1.5m.

An increase in the number of elderly people and a lack of Government funding means the expected £1.5m deficit this year could creep up to £2.2m if the level of overspending continues at its current rate.

Three key areas for savings have been identified, predominantly through a new policy for residential homes.

A single elderly person can only be placed in a residential or nursing home if at least two residents have left.

This policy, it is estimated, could bring the overspend down by more than £350,000.

But the proposal has sparked fears among county councillors that elderly people could be left in hospital as the demand for homes rises.

Social services director Dr Ray Jones said additional winter funding from the Government should curb this demand.

He said: "The total allocated to Wiltshire Health Authority is £544,000.

"It is planned the money will be used by primary care groups to assist people leaving hospital.

"If these services are put into place quickly and are effective, it should go a long way to starting to relieve the demand for residential and nursing home placements."

It is thought the remaining savings could be made on transport costs and a recruitment squeeze.

"We are asking for more and more journeys by taxi for foster children, for example.

"We urgently need to keep a tighter control on all these requests," said Dr Jones.

He said the underlying problem was a lack of funding, with Wiltshire spending 20 per cent more on social services than the Government expects it to. He stressed that the county's rural nature meant a significant amount of transport costs.

Wiltshire county councillor Philip Allnatt said: "The sparsity factor needs to be taken into account. If you need to send a social worker out to someone in Wiltshire it takes a lot of time and money because the population is so spread out."

Dr Jones said there had to be a recognition that rural counties had additional problems."The Government needs to realise the real cost of providing services to an increasing number of elderly people in a large rural area like Wiltshire."