COVID-19 is now expected to cost Fife Council £76 million – but they reckon they've almost plugged the huge hole in their finances.

Finance chief Eileen Rowand told councillors at the policy and co-ordination committee last week that they've managed to find most of the money and the shortfall could be just £3.5m.

Committee convener David Alexander, the co-leader of the council, said: "Compared to where we were in April and May, and where we thought we were going to be, this is night and day.

"I've said before that having been in a previous life an accountant in the paper industry, which is not for the faint hearted, I think that accountants in local government are much the same.

"The work you guys have done here is incredible, so keep it going!"

By the time of the committee meeting in August, some £65m had been found to meet the Covid costs, a mix of council and Scottish Government money, with more money from Holyrood still to be distributed.

A further £7m has now been identified, closing the funding gap to £3.5m.

It had been agreed that the council could use up to £10m of balances to cover the cost but Ms Rowand said this was unlikely to be needed as there was still money to come to compensate the council for the "substantial loss of income".

She added: "We expect to find out what we'll get from the national scheme in early December."

The previous estimated bill for the financial year was £78m but it's come down slightly.

While the cost of PPE has increased by £2.8m and the cost of heating in schools has climbed by £2.5m, there has been a further reduction of £400,000 in the estimated costs to reconfigure school buildings.

It had been assumed that measures would be needed throughout schools but it won't cost as much as updated guidance "removed the need, particularly in primary schools, for social distancing to be applied to children".

Among the other changes, with savings called for across all services, there was also a reduction of £2.7m in the estimated costs associated with children and families.

Ms Rowand, the executive director of finance and corporate services, said: "For the current year I'm confident we've got a strategy that will allow us to deal with the pressures we're facing."