THEY provide important help to hundreds of pensioners and other vulnerable York residents.

But the home help service may in future be denied to people in "moderate" need, as council chiefs struggle to deal with rising pressures on the city's social services budget.

The Press can reveal today that the service to such people might even have to be cut within the current financial year.

York council leader Steve Galloway said he "cannot rule out the possibility" of such a cut because of the pressures.

He said that a "few hundred" York residents at any one time were classified as being in moderate need, and benefited from a home help.

But if the policy did need to change, it was likely to impact mainly on new applicants.

He stressed that York was one of the few councils in the region to provide help for people in this category, with neighbouring authorities supporting only those with "substantial" and "critical" needs.

He said pressures on the social services budget resulted partly from more referrals for council help, because of the well known issue of people living longer.

"Those that we do support already are gradually becoming more demanding - that is, their needs become more complex requiring more support and hence the time of care workers," he said.

"This is under review on a monthly basis and I cannot rule out the possibility that we will have to move from providing for those with "moderate" needs to directly supporting only those with "substantial" and "critical" needs.

"This is one of the consequences of the Government's council tax capping policies: we can't raise more income - hence we must focus our services on those in greatest need."

He said the numbers in moderate need changed weekly, with members moving into the substantial category as age took its toll.

He added that the issue would be referred to in the half-year budget report, which was due to go to the executive in October. "Things should be clearer then."

Coun Sandy Fraser, Labour's spokesman for adult social services and health, said he would be concerned about any reduction in the level of support for some of the most vulnerable people in the community. "It would be deplorable," he said. He claimed the Government's threat to cap the council earlier this year could not be blamed, saying he believed the problems stemmed from "gross mismanagement" by the Liberal Democrat administration.