BOLTON Council will have to make an extra £8 million worth of cuts — taking the total that needs to be saved over the next two years to £42 million.

Town Hall chiefs are now warning there could be cuts to children’s and adult’s services — and possibly more job losses.

Spending cuts of £34.6 million were already planned, along with the loss of 500 posts between 2013-15.

But a reduced grant settlement from the Department for Communities and Local Government, as well as a possible cap on council tax, could see the authority having to slash spending even further.

Announcing the financial settlement for local authorities in the Commons, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said reductions in local government funding could be offset by giving councils more freedom over how they spend their cash, branding it a “move from the begging bowl”.

He added: “It marks a new settlement for local government based on self-determination and financial independence, a move from the begging bowl to pride in locality.

“It begins the biggest shake-up of local finance in a generation.”

But Bolton Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said the council would have to go “back to the drawing board” and would have to look at cuts to the children’s and adults services budget. He added: “It means we’ve got to find another £8 million in cuts.

“We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and look at other services. The cuts are going to be deeper.

“This is a problem because our two biggest budgets are children and adults and we’ll have to look at making cuts to those.”

And the council chief executive said he could not rule out more job losses.

Sean Harriss added: “If you’re having to find significant savings then further job losses and reductions in services can’t be ruled out.

“We’ll be looking at the funding settlement closely.”