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West Berkshire Council has written to the health secretary Alan Milburn and secretary of state for local government Stephen Byers asking for increased resources for community care services.

The council has said the amount that the government allocates nationally for children's and other standard spending assessments for 2002-3 needs to be increased "to a level that more closely corresponds with the underlying needs of local authorities to spend on these services".

It also wants the government to introduce a simplified grant system that gives more weight to client groups than the current system, and seeks a review of the various formulae used to allocate money for health and social care.

In exchange for the funding West Berkshire Council has offered to transform its community care services in line with the government's modernisation programme and to agree targets for reducing hospital bed blocking.

Council leader Keith Lock said: "Central government made it clear in the NHS Plan that councils and primary care trusts should work much more closely together for the benefit of people who require care. It is impossible to do this effectively because of the differences in the way we are funded."

He added that research done by the primary care trust suggests that the amount spent per year in Berkshire would increase by £58 million if social services were funded in the same way as health services.