COUNCILLORS are preparing to slash their budget by a further £16 million following reports of a national funding shortfall.

The Local Government Association's (LGA) spending review warned that more than 370 local authorities will have their purse strings tightened as a result of new Tory policies.

In the wake of the LGA's warning of a £10 billion shortfall facing councils across the country, West Berkshire Council's executive member for finance, Councillor Roger Croft, said: "it is going to be tough."

He said: "It is going to be £16 million shortfall over the next three years but we are still working on it. That number can change, it could change for the better but in experience it will change for the worse.

“This comes on top of savings we’ve already found, so if we’re to continue to live within our means we’re going to have to make increasingly tough decisions. Our overriding aim will be to protect our frontline services as far as possible.

"We are working on an intelligent estimate, we are wore than £16 million but we do not know how much worse we are."

Cllr Croft said that the council are continually reviewing solutions and will be holding a public consultation on the details in the autumn.

He said: "One of the options we are going to look at is raising council tax but there are a number of things we can do. Increasing council tax means that we will be taking money off people in a different way.

"At the moment we are looking at every conceivable option."

Several services have already been cut by West Berkshire Council in a bid to reduce costs by £5.6 million, which included 23 job cuts and reductions to the road safety budget and funding public toilets.

The council previously confirmed that the 2015/16 budget that a further £5.9 million would be cut, which leaves a total of £10.1 million to be saved by 2018.

Gary Porter, LGA chairman, said that councils across the country will face "enormous pressure" if the government fails to fully assess the impact of these unfunded cost burdens when making its spending decisions.

He said: "Vital services, such as caring for the elderly, protecting children, collecting bins, filling potholes and maintaining our parks and green spaces, will simply struggle to continue at current levels.”

There has been a 40 per cent reduction in state funding to all local councils since 2010, which has led to a reduction in staff numbers by 350,000 council employees, and 150,000 fewer people receiving adult social care.