Council leaders have praised efforts to slash their authority's overspend this year.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council currently predicts that it will overspend its revenue budget by £4.1 million in 2025/26 – down from the £13.7 million variance projected three months ago.

The overall reduction has come despite a worsening position within the children and families directorate – the service area with the largest deficit.

Children and families is now projecting a £13.6 million overspend, up from £9.5 million, due to increased spending on care placements.

But all other directorates have seen an improved position. Adult social care and all-commissioning, for example, saw its forecast deficit fall from £2.5 million to £812,000.

According to a council report, this was partly due to 'targeted reviews' of care packages to 'ensure eligible needs are met in a cost-effective manner' and funded by the correct public body.

And the housing, regeneration and operations directors is currently expected to end the year £4.6 million under budget.

This includes £1 million in savings due to an 'unplanned outage' at the Hanford energy-from-waste plant, while another £2 million has been allocated to the budget following government guidance relating to extended producer responsibility.

Another major factor behind the reduced overspend is £6 million in 'potential corporate mitigations', which include a one-off pension benefit.

Cabinet members welcomed the improved finances at their meeting on Tuesday.

Council leader Jane Ashworth said the reduction in the overspend had been a 'massive step forward'.

She said: "All of us are very impressed with the work the officers have done to try to keep us in financial stability and bringing down our potential debts. We're all very grateful for that."

The city council's predicted overspend for 2025/26 comes despite the authority receiving £16.8 million in 'exceptional financial support' this year.

This bailout loan was requested by council leaders as they struggled with increased spending on children's social care.

Children's services continues to be the area of greatest financial pressure, with the predicted overspend on children's placements increasing from £7.9 million to £12.8 million over the last three months.The number of children in care in Stoke-on-Trent rose from 1,094 to 1,120 over this period.

The report to cabinet states: "The children's services improvement and delivery plan continues to be central to managing placement demand.

"The plan, aligned with commitments set out to central government, aims to reduce the number of children in care over the medium term and manage placement costs through effective commissioning.

"Progress continues, although challenges remain regarding market sufficiency and capacity, particularly in higher-cost placements."