Kent County Council is struggling to contain an £8m overspend in its budget with finance chiefs warning the authority faces an uphill battle to balance its books this year.

The bleak short-term financial outlook comes as the council prepares to set out how to make £80m savings next year.

It also coincides with reports the government may decide to allow councils to increase their council tax by a further 1% to raise more money for social care.

That would be on top of the additional 2% adult care precept introduced last year.

A report due to be considered by KCC’s Conservative cabinet today says the overspend is “very clearly a concern” and that despite efforts to rein in spending “the residual position shows no real sign of improving and has in fact worsened this month.”

So critical is the situation that among the steps being taken to curb spending is an edict not to use hotels and other outside venues for meetings; a drive to encourage staff not to print reports or other documents and a recruitment freeze.

The greatest pressure on the council’s finances is on the budget for vulnerable children, exacerbated by the continuing strain caused by the number of asylum children already in the council’s care.

KCC says it is due to get more than £2m from the government to help with asylum costs but has warned that “is by no means certain.”

Of the overall £8.2m overspend, £6m is linked to services for looking after vulnerable children, with residential care overspent by £2.7m and fostering, where the budget is £1.3m in the red.

A continuing crisis in recruitment means that the council is still relying on expensive agency staff to fill key posts at a cost of £1.5m.

Asylum costs for unaccompanied young asylum seeker children remains a pressure point, but a national dispersal system means the overspend in this part of the budget has fallen slightly to £2.1m.

The report says senior managers are determined to reach “a balanced position by year end without imposing a more draconian set of authority-wide moratoria.”