Hertfordshire County Council is forecasting a £1.4m overspend for 2025/26, as it enters the final months of the financial year.

Overall, the county council set a revenue budget of £1.2bn this year (2025/26) – to provide services that include social care, highways, education, public health, trading standards and the fire and rescue service.

At the end of September, data had suggested that the council was heading for a £6.2m overspend by the end of the 2025/26 financial year.

But the latest figures – presented to the resources and performance cabinet panel last month – show that by the end of December, that forecast had shrunk by £4.8m, to £1.4m.

And that does not include the use of the £10m contingency that was set aside at the beginning of the year.

According to a report presented to councillors at the meeting, the projected overspend is "relatively small" compared to other authorities.

And the aim in the months to the end of the financial year will be to minimise the use of the £10m contingency.

"In comparison to the national landscape, a relatively small forecasted overspend, before any use of contingency, is a positive position to be reporting and demonstrates our commitment to managing resources responsibly to enable us to continue investing in vital services," says the report.

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"The objective will be to manage and mitigate any further pressures in the remaining quarter of the financial year to minimise the use of the annual contingency."

According to the report, the lowering of the forecast overspend has been driven by corporate actions that have provided, largely, one-off benefits.

And while it says this is "welcome and helpful in offsetting in-year pressures", it also warns "the majority of these actions will only deliver one-off benefits and could potentially mask medium term financial challenges".

According to the report, the highest financial pressures are being felt in social care services for adults and children.

And, it says this is due to both increasing demand and rising costs.

The county council is currently scrutinising budget proposals for the 2026/27 financial year, which are scheduled to be formally considered by a meeting of the full council on February 17.