The chief executive of Bradford’s Age UK charity has warned that the district’s social care system is at breaking point with the politician responsible for adult care agreeing with him, branding the situation a “waiting timebomb”.

Keith Nathan, the head of Age UK Bradford & District, called on Bradford Council to demonstrate “honesty about the situation” and to “stop pretending we don’t have an all round crisis of care”.

He said that Bradford, an area in the top ten per cent of deprivation in the country, had suffered a cut equivalent to £147.60 per head of its population over the period 2010/2011 to 2012/2013.

And Councillor Amir Hussain, the executive member for adult care on the Labour-run Council, has warned cuts to services are inevitable unless the authority receives more Government cash.

Coun Hussain said: “There is a crisis and we are being squeezed and squeezed.

“I wouldn’t want to cause any kind of panic so it would not be appropriate to say which services we would stop doing.

“This year we are trying to overcome the shortfall by looking at ineffeciencies but are coming to a point where there is nothing to be gained and we have done all we can.

“We will have to stop doing things as we are doing them at the moment. We need to sit down and look at the figures and devise a priority list and see what is more important.

“We cannot do a lot of services we currently provide if we haven’t got funds. Something has to give.

“We have got to see what works in the best interests of the district. In the next year we really need to sit down and look at the next year’s budget. I am quite sure the public and district understand everything revolves around cost.”

Mr Nathan said: “Cutting back on social care does not make economic sense. It ‘shifts the buck’.

“We have already seen a rise in the cost to the NHS of emergency admissions and delayed discharges in England. Shuffling costs between different parts of the system is not the answer.

“Age UK is campaigning for the Government to fully address the funding gap in social care, ensuring that funding keeps pace with growing demand and is sufficient to meet unmet need for care.

“Bradford Council’s frantic search for a simple mechanism to cut costs seems to be settling on ‘unit cost’ – this is threatening smaller, local, community projects immediately and will impact upon all.

“More and more people are discussing concerns about declining standards and pressure on the deliverers of home care producing less help, and not as it is needed by the client.

“Pressure on reducing numbers of staff and beds in the NHS is now producing instances of very poor planning and care in the discharge of vulnerable people and this used to be very rare.

“In 2009/2010 the district deservedly won Beacon status for this effort.The cuts programme since 2010 is forcing this into reverse. The local authority is struggling to maintain its level of support while demand is increasing and its resources are axed, and, for the first time, we are seeing growing numbers of elders among our poorest communities.”

The warnings come days before the Fair Access to Care three-month consultation is started by Bradford Council.

If the benchmark for FACS is moved from moderate to substantial or critical it could mean 2,000 people losing out, including 788 aged 18 to 64 and 1,290 aged 65 or over, making a saving of £1.57 million a year for the Council.

A report by the social care overview and scrutiny committee highlights the need for the consultation, the results of which will then go to the Council’s powerful executive in September.

Liberal Democrat group leader, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, said a Council which spends £55,000 a year lighting the City Hall clock, should direct all available cash to frontline services.

She said: “They have enough money to give out loans and councillors expenses. Why do we have three councillors per ward when one would be enough?

“We have enough money to consult on Green Belt. So they should get real and stop blaming Government when millions has been cut from back office in social care already.”

The Council’s Conservative group leader, Councillor Glen Miller, said: “We need to see excellent leadership. They set the budget and are now saying they don’t have enough. Get on and sort it out. There is always a crisis if you want it to be.”