Hertfordshire County Council ended the 2025/26 financial year with a "small" overspend of £800,000, according to a report due to be presented to councillors next week.

In total, the council had allocated a budget of £1.2m to deliver services that include education, social care, highways, waste disposal, public health and trading standards, as well as the fire and rescue service.

And at one point, there had been fears that the council would end the 2025/26 financial year with an overspend of as much as £6.2m.

But a report published in advance of next week's meeting of the council's resources and performance cabinet panel reveals that the overspend at the end of the year was £800,000.

In addition, it reports that the county council successfully made £40.4m of savings, compared to a target of £42m.

According to the report, the £800,000 overspend does not include the use of the council's £10m contingency budget.

And that means £9.2m of the 2025/26 contingency is now set to be transferred into council reserves "to help mitigate unbudgeted future pressures in the next financial year".

According to the report, there continues to be "a number of significant demand-led pressures" facing the council.

And the highest of these are said to be driven by increasing numbers of looked-after children and ongoing pressures in adult care services, particularly within 'older people'.

Nevertheless, speaking in advance of the cabinet panel meeting, executive member for resources and performance Cllr Chris Lucas has welcomed the financial position recorded at the end of 2025/26.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I am delighted to see that due to the strict and responsible adherence to the budget and savings plans and other initiatives that HCC engaged in to ensure we met all of our budgetary restrictions there has been a positive outcome.

"It's been tough – not least with the government reducing our budget by £42m over three years with the Fair Funding Review.

"Members and officers have had to dig deep and have had to think really creatively and innovatively to find ways to ensure we can deliver gold standard services with less money."

According to the report, one of the "key financial risks" is the growing deficit recorded by the dedicated schools grant high needs block, which is used to support children with SEND.

During 2025/26, it is reported that the cost of meeting that local need exceeded the government grant funding by £50m. And the cumulative deficit position reached £83m.

Aside from revenue spending, the report shows that the council's capital programme recorded a £20m underspend – with £44.3m reprogrammed into future years.

"This reflects delays across a range of major schemes, including highways, school infrastructure and place-based developments, driven by factors such as procurement challenges, planning processes, contractor capacity and wider market conditions," says the report.

The resources and performance cabinet panel will consider the budget report at its meeting on Tuesday (July 14).