Council Tax could rise and public services cut to fund Government proposals to give the elderly who are most in need free social care, Bradford Council has warned.

Councillor Dale Smith, the Bradford councillor responsible for social care, fears the proposals in the Government’s Personal Care at Home Bill are “unclear, unfunded and are likely to have a significant impact on existing local services, including possible cuts and rises in Council Tax.”

The proposals would provide free personal care for the most vulnerable elderly people in England. Councils claim they will have to find between £3 million and £10 million to fund the proposals.

Coun Smith said: “We support the principal, no doubt about that, but what I am concerned about from a local perspective is the costings which have been seriously understated.

“As we have provisionally worked out Bradford would receive about £1 million but it would cost us three times that to fund this. Where will that money come from?

“If it were a Government scheme paid for by them we would support it entirely, but at a time when we are being asked to make efficiency savings.”

The row over costing erupted in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday with Tory leader David Cameron demanding to know where the funding was coming from.

Mr Cameron pointed to the criticism levelled by council leaders at the policy, saying: “Everybody wants to do more to help with care but why do you think that so many of the people responsible for delivering this policy are so completely unconvinced by what you’ve put forward?”

Gordon Brown said: “Your party supported this Bill as it went through the Commons. I don’t know if you’ve done another U-turn in policy, but we have set aside £670 million in the next year – £420 million will come from the health service to provide that care for urgent needs.”

The letter setting out concerns has been signed by Coun Smith and 69 other councils across the country.

It says: “It is wrong to raise expectations among many of the most vulnerable in our society and their families that they may be in a position to benefit from these proposals when the reality may be significantly different.

“We are therefore calling for the Government to commission urgently an independent review of these proposals, including an analysis of the financial position, before progressing any farther.”