Ceredigion County Council departments and staff have been praised after the council’s precarious financial situation moved from a predicted overspend of £1.5m to just £10,000, but the longer term is “still challenging”.

At the 17 July Cabinet meeting, Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement Services Cllr Gareth Davies told members a £1.5m overspend had been predicted in the third quarter of the last financial year, with an even worse prediction in the second quarter of £2.7m.

A report for members said: “The final overall revenue outturn position to report for 2023/24 is a small overspend of £10,000.

“There has been a multitude of budget pressures for services to contend with during the year, the majority of which then featured heavily in the 2024/25 budget setting process.

“Recognising the challenging in year financial position, Leadership Group implemented a very proactive financial management approach in August 2023.

“At the Q3 stage, all services were asked to continue to take actions wherever possible to improve the position by year-end.

“It is a credit to all corporate lead officers, their corporate managers and staff that the proactive approach has been successful in eliminating the £1.5m projected overspend.”