CASH-strapped Cumbria County Council expects it will need to find an extra £22m than it had previously calculated over the next few years.

The authority has already identified or delivered spending cuts of £178m.

Managers had predicted the authority needs to find another £33m in unidentified savings by 2018, but that figure has been revised upwards to £55m.

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The full financial picture is likely to emerge after Chancellor George Osborne’s emergency budget on Wednesday.

But the Gazette has seen a message from the authority's chief executive Diane Wood to its workforce in which she warns: "Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m sorry to say but the future really is going to be difficult.