Cambridgeshire social services department will not face cuts despite a council agreement to pump more money into education following talks with the Department for Education and Skills.

The council had wanted to hold back £4.5m of the £11m local education authority budget increase for next year to subsidise other services, including social care.

It was feared that social services could face huge cuts if education secretary Charles Clarke forced the council to spend its entire education budget on schools (news, 22 January, page 11).

But the government is giving Cambridgeshire an advance of £1.75m and a further £2.25m will be raised through increasing council tax by 6.9 per cent, instead of by 9 per cent which it would have otherwise needed.

A spokesperson for the council insisted that social services would not be affected as the department would still have the money it was entitled to.