FINAL budget figures released by Oxfordshire County Council show the authority spent £196,000 less than it budgeted for last year.

The local authority’s budget for the 2014/15 financial year was £424.19m for all its directorates, but the final total totted up at £423.99m.

However, it was forced to dip into its reserves and impose a recruitment freeze to meet the figure, after finance bosses warned last year of a £11m budget shortfall.

In a letter to council staff, chief executive Joanna Simons said the problems were due to increased demand for services to support vulnerable adults and children.

Since then the council said it had reduced the overspend by £3.7m through the freeze on recruitment and non-urgent expenditure, with the remainder paid down using reserves.

But a report by chief finance officer Lorna Baxter said ongoing cuts would make it more difficult to react to fresh financial pressures in the future.

The council has had to plan for £284m of savings by 2018 and it is widely expected that it will be forced to find tens of millions of pounds more next year.

In her report to senior councillors, Ms Baxter wrote: “Management action was taken to address the [overspend], but annual reductions in the budget since 2010 means there is less flexibility to manage pressures as they arise.”