Calderdale Council is facing a projected £5.4m overspend by the end of this council year.

But its Reform administration says it is making progress to reduce costs.

Speaking at Monday’s cabinet meeting, Coun Mike Payne said the projected out-turn for 2026-27 was down on the overspend at the end of the last council year, 2025-26, and work to remedy the situation would continue.

Familiar pressures are giving the senior councillors problems as they try and balance the council’s books, with rising adults’ and children’s social care costs an issue for the Reform UK administration, as they were for their Labour predecessors.

Coun Payne (Reform UK, Sowerby Bridge), cabinet member for Corporate Services, Assets and Resources, said the council was facing pressures to meet demand on those statutory services.

But the predicted overspend, he said, was “down from the near £8m left to us”.

Coun Payne said the new cabinet had acted quickly by acting on “financial oversights…challenging spending and robust recovery measures”.

In four months, progress had been made in reducing the council’s debt and improving its management while protecting front line services, he claimed.

The measures taken in key areas and decision-making will “return Calderdale to a balanced financial position while delivering long-term financial stability,” he said.