Leicestershire County Council's budgets have seen an "improvement", say officers.

The council's Scrutiny Commission met today (September 2) to discuss its medium-term budget position, with the council reporting a predicted £4.7m underspend by the end of the year.

The council has said that the underspend is due to the reduced spending on costly social care placements and unexpected Home Office funding for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).

The meeting heard from Simone Hines, assistant director of corporate resources at the county council, who said the current budget outlook was "an improvement".

Budget documents show that, despite the underspend, Leicestershire County Council will still need to draw on £10.6m in reserves to balance the 2026/27 books, down from £15.4m previously.

It also shows that a further £10m of debt has been repaid, bringing the total to £36.9m since April, from early repayments in April and August, with the council's external debt at £93 million – its lowest level in more than 30 years.

However, Conservative councillors have hit out at the communication around the underspend savings during the meeting.

Earlier last week in a council press release, Reform leader Dan Harrison said it was about "putting Leicestershire on a stronger footing for the future" and that the figures show the approach "was starting to make a difference".

Reform cabinet member for finance, Cllr Harrison Fowler, also said the news was "an encouraging update" and showed the council was "on track".

Conservative councillor Craig Smith said that while savings were there, the council was spending less of its reserves and asked when it expected to spend less of them.

Mrs Hines said there would need to be a further £10m improvement, but it was a "live, moving position" on the future of its use of reserves.

She added: "The biggest chunk of our budget is demand-led social care, which is volatile and subject to change.

"If the improvement we are seeing continues at a similar rate or even a better rate, we might be able to reduce that use of reserves, but it is quite early in the year".

Cllr Smith said the graphics being put out by the council were "duplicitous". He added: "On one hand, you've said you've saved all this money but on the other hand, you're reaching in your pocket to take out money to basically balance the books.

"What the council are putting out as comms is incorrect and duplicitous. We should not be doing that.

"We're telling residents we've saved all this money, and whilst I appreciate the savings are there, we've budgeted £15m to balance the books out of reserves. That's not the same as having the cash in your pocket to spend".

Mrs Hines later said that by looking at similar trends in previous years, the council could see the use of reserves further reduced.

Declan Keegan, director of corporate resources, told the commission that everything was "factually correct" and nothing had changed regarding budget monitoring over the past few years.

Conservative Cllr Phil King also said he believed there were "misleading statements being made on the county council's behalf".

Reform Cllr Andrew Innes hit back at opposition councillors for making "political points" and said the fact was that the council had "saved money against their budget".

He added: "That's a fact. You can not dispute that unless you want to.

"I, for one, am not backing this move that the council have been sending out misleading messages or someone has. There is a fact.

"We have saved money against the budget. If you want to dispute that, then bring some figures and show me we haven't saved money.

"Businesses use reserves all the time to balance budgets, that's the fact. It's what happens. The fact of the matter is that you use reserves, that's what businesses do".