The council has recorded £6m worth of cuts with another £5m on the cards.

The figures were revealed last night as part of the cabinet’s financial strategy.

Proposals for merging adoption services with Kent and Medway were also put forward.

In total the council is projected to spend £1.6m less in services by March 31 next year, with over 93 per cent of the services programme completed or on target for delivery.

Council leader Teresa O’Neill said: “We have spent the last few years concentrating on what we have had to save as a result of increased demand as well reduction in grant funding.

“It can’t be said we are not putting the effort into making that happen.”

As it stands the council remains stuck with a £15m budget gap by 2017 - 2018 and then £32m by 2021 - 2022 prompting the cabinet to propose more cuts.

The first rounds of proposals were agreed by council in July.

The cabinet identified £5m more savings from “right sizing budgets”, with ten of the “complex services” provided by the council stripped of £6m.

If all the proposals were approved next year the council would be left with a £2.7m budget gap rising to £12m in 2021 - 2022.

There are looming cuts worth £3.5bn from Westminster as well, which the government will announce in autumn - it is not clear if local authorities will bear the brunt of this.

The Director of Finance, Alison Griffin, said the council was in a “ stable and healthy position,” which she described as “excellent progress”.

Ms Griffin pointed to additional investment needed “to advance cohesion in the borough” referencing the Northumberland Heath brawl involving 100 schoolchildren on September 19.

But additional income is starting to come into the council with £1.2m from services like the garden waste collection and a clamp down on fraudsters.

A need to integrate adult social care was also put forward to cabinet with a loose set of provisions including “staying healthy, living my life and keeping safe.

The need to establish a better “integrated care providing service” was pushed but mental health services are to remain untouched under the proposals.

On the new round of cuts cllr Don Massey said: “It’s a no brainer really even if it’s not exactly as nice as we would like.

“I am cautiously optimistic.”

In addition to the financial difficulties government is requiring all local authorities to have regional adoption care in place by 2020.

The main purpose is to improve the speed of the adoption process.

In response to this need the Director of Children's Services, Jacky Tiotto proposed a three way partnership with Kent and Medway, with Bexley owning a percentage share.

However it was conceded that the “set up costs are unknown”.

It is the council’s proposition to merge adoption services with Kent and Medway rather than enter into an arrangement with the other London councils.