Local councils will be sent into a "death spiral" unless government starts fully funding social care, a local authority leader has warned.

Deputy leader of cash-strapped Kent County Council, Cllr Peter Oakford, said the "current mix" of funding is unsustainable to provide levels of service demand requires.

He was speaking ahead of the unveiling of KCC's Budget Recovery Plan on October 5 which will set out how the authority will fill a £37m budget gap by the end of the 2023-24 financial year.

Cllr Oakford called on central government to meet the "enormous" financial pressures faced by councils across the country.

But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears to be unwilling to move.

He told the BBC this year's average 9.5% increase in funding to local authorities, some of which are in dire financial straits, was "reasonable".

Cllr Oakford said: “Our message to government is very clear. The current mix of the funding county councils receive, and the responsibilities they have, is unsustainable.

“Government needs to fully fund rising cost pressures on social care. If they were to do that, we, and a lot of other local authorities, would not be in the position that we are in today."

He claimed that one-off funding will not "address the structural deficit" on social care and home to school transport.

Cllr Oakford added: "I believe that if government don’t start looking at funding in this area, then an awful lot of upper tier authorities across the UK will be in a death spiral, because they will just have to stop providing any service that isn’t statutory."

The deputy leader reiterated earlier claims by KCC's leadership that it is not on the verge of issuing a Section 114 notice, which is effectively a declaration of bankruptcy.

Even above the savings required in this financial year, the council will need to find £86m in efficiencies in 2024-25, according to KCC's own auditors, Grant Thornton.

KCC says that work is under way to tackle budget pressures and overspend.

The council will look to make savings in "every area" both now and in the future; review spending from reserves; sell property (including County Hall) and avoid "non-committed" spending for the rest of this financial year.

A KCC statement said: "As the Gateway to Europe...the border challenge and asylum system create additional pressure on the county’s children’s services compared to other local authorities.

"KCC has a range of important responsibilities for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking (UAS) Children under the Children’s Act."

KCC leader Cllr Roger Gough said: “My priority... is to make sure that we not only deliver on this budget recovery plan but, in doing so, we absolutely ensure that we secure the future of the county, continue to provide the services that our residents need and, most importantly, set KCC on a path to financial stability and resilience in the future.

“The government needs to understand that the rapidly rising cost of providing vital statutory services has had an enormous impact across everything that we do.

"As a local authority, we are having to direct funds away from the areas that residents tell us they most value, in order to fund social care and all the other services that we legally have to provide."