The new leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council has re-iterated her claim that the authority's finances are in dire straits as she prepares to chair her first cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Cllr Jane Ashworth is just weeks into the job, and is already planning to ask the government for more money to help bail out the cash-strapped council.

Officers at the authority have produced a report which shows the authority is facing a challenging period with its finances due to a rise in the number of children in care.

The report states the city council was caring for 1,100 children at the end of March – with nine more admitted compared with last year, and 83 fewer discharged.

The report also highlighted a drop in the number of children being old enough to leave its care.

The report states there are also concerns about the number of older people in nursing or residential care, as figures remain above national targets and there has been an increase in the number of older people needing homecare.

Cllr Ashworth said the authority is facing a £15 million black hole in its finances, and this is largely due to the pressure on both its children's and adults' social care services.

She said: "There's all kinds of things going on that have left us in a bad financial situation.

"The government has taken £750 million out of the city, and you can see the consequences of that – we are not improving the city as fast as we want to.

"It's a myth that the city has been on the up, we have to change that."

It's understood one of the issues which is adding to the increased cost of children's social care is that some children are being housed outside the city.

Cllr Ashworth said: "Too many of our children in care are in placements outside of the city and that's a problem because it can be extremely expensive.

"You can't put a price on keeping a child safe, but it is painfully expensive."

When asked about how she planned to tackle the problem, she said she would seek to bring in more money to bring the finances back into the black, as well as looking at ways to work more effectively with other agencies.

It is understood that one of the main issues affecting finances is the rising cost of social care (Nub News).

She told the LDRS: "We will go and see Michael Gove, and make the case for more money for the city.

"If that's not successful we will be making more of our relationships with health services."

Despite the financial difficulties facing the authority, Cllr Ashworth has maintained a commitment not to slash funding for the city's arts and heritage as a way of plugging the gap.

She said: "We have got to attack the social care issue, but we also have to go about tackling proper social change.

"We can be more open to relationships – for example in the arts and cultural sector we want to open the doors to bringing in as much external money as we can.

"We can't stop the clock just because the city is so hard up – we need to grow and that is part of the solution.

"It's about being smart, it's about better relationships, it's about making sure you've got the resources to do some of the basic things.

"It's also about people. A council is no good if it's not concerned about the wellbeing of its residents and its people.

"That's why tackling fly tipping is so important – because it makes people feel miserable."

READ MORE: UK rock band with major 00s hits promise 'instant gratification' with new album and Stoke gig

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stoke Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our city.

Subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter email HERE - just click the 'SIGN UP' button.

Please consider following Stoke Nub News on Facebook or Twitter.