DORSET taxpayers may need to find £8.5m for people with learning disabilities because the government is closing down care units based at hospitals.

Councils and health services covering Dorset face the bill to re-home 143 people, some of whom have been in specialist care for more than 50 years.

The scale of the changes and the cost is laid out in a report going before Bournemouth's health scrutiny committee on Monday, January 7.

The county faces the second biggest number of people to re-home in the country, behind Cornwall.

To let the residents have their own housing, or live in care in the community housing, a total of £16.12m is needed, but there is an estimated gap of £8.5m.

Bournemouth's cabinet member for resources Cllr John Beesley, said: "It's another challenge and as so often the contribution from government decreases and the contribution from local tax payers increases."

He added: "It's early days and a lot depends on the contribution from the PCTs and the outcome of negotiations."

Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole councils have all committed to finding the money but the details of where the money will come from has not been worked out.

The residents came to live in their current accommodation when vast hospitals for disabled people were replaced by smaller units.

At the moment they are classified as patients, rather than residents, and the government has decided that this needs to end by 2010.

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, said: "There are already not enough services for adults with learning difficulties living in the community.

"It could potentially be a good move for a lot of people but this could be too much for our already overstretched social services."