Annual Report 2024/25
Introduction
The Council faced significant challenges over the past year. Pressures on services have continued to grow and costs have increased, while the funding we receive has not kept pace. Despite these additional pressures we continued to deliver effective services and improved outcomes for our residents. This report provides a summary of our achievements in 2024/25, as well as recent successes.
There are sections within the report for each of our four priority outcomes:
-
Driving sustainable economic growth
-
Keeping vulnerable people safe
-
Helping people help themselves
-
Making best use of resources now and for the future
These cross-cutting priority outcomes guide the decisions we make when setting our delivery plans for services, the Revenue Budget, and Capital Programme.
We work in partnership to deliver our services. We would like to thank our many partners for their very significant contribution to the progress we have made and their continued commitment to meeting the challenges we all share, especially over the last year.
We hope you find this report useful and interesting.
2024/25 A year in numbers
-
60% of our procurement spend was with local suppliers
-
117 highway improvement schemes were completed, and over 23,000 potholes were repaired
-
we provided school transport for over 5,000 children
-
360 businesses and professionals received training and bespoke advice from Trading Standards
-
we managed business support programmes which helped local businesses create 60 full time equivalent jobs in the county
-
55% of household waste was re-used, recycled or composted, or used beneficially
-
6,602 children were supported to maintain their reading skills by taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge in our libraries
-
4,085 children took part in our Bikeability programme
-
691 children were Looked After
-
614 children had Child Protection Plans
-
10,925 adults were in receipt of long-term adult social care support
-
we provided information, advice and support to 11,337 carers
-
we supported around 8,000 adults with care and support needs through monitored alarms
-
there were 290 interventions by Trading Standards to protect people targeted by rogue trading or financial abuse
-
1,710 people quit smoking with support from our stop smoking service
-
we completed 20 energy efficiency projects in our buildings and schools, including installing new windows and replacing old boilers with fuel efficient systems
-
147 members of staff enrolled on to an apprenticeship
-
we rationalised and reduced the number of offices occupied by the Council, saving over £1m and reducing our carbon emissions
Overcoming challenges
We are proud of our many achievements over the last year, particularly given the challenges we have faced. The increased cost of living disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable, and the complexity of need amongst vulnerable children and families grew. We also provided social care support to more adults than the previous year. Alongside this we have seen escalating costs caused by factors which are largely outside our control, such as national changes to National Insurance and inflation rates. The funding we receive from Government has not kept pace with the increased demand we face. We expect these pressures to be ongoing in the coming years and to have a significant impact on our planning for the future.
We use our time and public money carefully, working as one team across the Council and with our partners to deliver the best for our residents. Our strong financial and governance processes and approach to service delivery have been endorsed by recent independent reviews. Ofsted and HM Inspectorate of Probation, following detailed inspections, praised the quality of our Children’s Services and judged our youth justice services as ‘good’. The Care Quality Commission gave a positive assessment of our Adult Social Care services, rating them as ‘good’ and recognising our commitment to providing the best possible support for our residents. Our external auditors have endorsed the value for money services provide across the Council. These considered judgements confirm that East Sussex is a well-run Council, with effective and efficient services.
This Annual Report highlights many examples of how the Council has successfully delivered a broad range of services for the people of East Sussex over the last year, despite these growing challenges.
We are realistic about the substantial challenges we face, grounded in the evidence of the future needs of the county and the demands this will place on our support. We will continue to actively lobby, individually and with our networks and partners, to ensure that the Government understands our county’s needs. We will also continue to raise the urgent case for sustainable funding that reflects local need, and the importance of national reform to enable more flexible and targeted use of local resources.
Driving sustainable economic growth
Supporting the local economy
Local people and the local economy have been impacted by high rates of inflation and challenges from the increased cost of living in recent years. The Council has worked to support recovery and help tackle the long-term consequences for people in the county.
Over the last year the Council has continued to play a key role in driving sustainable economic growth across East Sussex. Through a range of programmes and partnerships we supported businesses, improved local infrastructure and transport links, helped residents into employment and skills development, and promoted the county as a vibrant location for business, culture, and tourism. Information about the support and programmes available across the county to help businesses start, grow and develop is on our Business Support website.
We published a new economic strategy for East Sussex in 2024/25, jointly produced by the Council and Team East Sussex. The strategy seeks to secure sustainable economic growth, setting out how – over the next generation – East Sussex can secure better opportunities and living standards for the people who live in the county, and can help our businesses to thrive and grow. It will enable the Council and partners to make evidence-based cases to attract more investment to the county.
We also directly contributed to the local economy. The Council spent £382m with 815 local suppliers in 2024/25, which was 60% of our total procurement spend. We continue to promote our contract opportunities to local suppliers and build local supply chain opportunities into our tenders where possible. We work with suppliers to maximise the social value delivered by our contracts. For many years, suppliers to the council have been providing apprenticeships, community value, and engaging with skills initiatives. During the year we secured commitments for economic, social and environmental benefits that were equivalent in value to at least 19% of our spend with suppliers. Examples of social value benefits secured for local people are shown in the following two case studies.
Case study: adding social value:
The suppliers of the cleaning services for the Council corporate and schools estate committed to a social value offer of £1.8m over their initial 3-year contract, 14% of the contract value. The social value benefits included:
- apprenticeship and job opportunities for local people
- work experience and career awareness programmes offered to local schools and colleges
- initiatives to reduce carbon emissions
Case study: adding social value
As part of the construction work for The Joff and Heathfield Youth Centres, the supplier committed to a social value offer of £4.3m across 2 contracts, which was 69% of the combined spend. The social value benefits included:
- spend with local supply chains
- apprenticeships
- job opportunities and employability support for local people in priority groups
- support for environmental programmes
Council managed business support programmes helped to create 60 full time equivalent jobs in the county in 2024/25. The programmes included the Newhaven Business Grants programme, the Rural Business Grants programme and the delivery of specialist business support through the ‘Big Ambitions’ programme.
We have continued to deliver the East Sussex Growth Hub. This is a free to use, independent, publicly funded business support service for businesses across East Sussex. The Hub works to help businesses access the advice, funding or support they need to move forward.
We provided advice and guidance to local businesses through our Trading Standards service on further changes in legislative requirements brought about by the UK exiting the EU. These have particularly affected businesses importing or exporting goods and services to other European countries. We also worked with Newhaven Port, national Government and UK Border Force to develop the best working practices to monitor and inspect goods being imported through the port.
Our support for Create South East was ongoing during 2024/25, in collaboration with Kent, Essex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove councils. The programme aims to support local creative businesses to develop the skills they need to secure investment and enable access to additional sources of funding.
We take part in Skills & Employment East Sussex, which is the county’s strategic body for employment and skills, and celebrated 10 years of working to improve local employment and skills levels in July 2025. Over that decade Skills & Employment East Sussex has grown from a modest local partnership into a nationally recognised model of best practice. Work during this period has included:
- securing over £60m of additional funding for the delivery of employment and skills initiatives and capital infrastructure
- launching six industry sector task groups
- establishing one of the UK’s first Career Hubs
- developing adult learning and employment programmes such as Moving on Up, Support into Work and Multiply
The East Sussex Careers Hub continued to work with all secondary schools, special schools and colleges in the county, linking them with over 210 employers. The aim is to inspire and support young people to learn about the world of work, to raise aspirations and help them understand the significant changes and opportunities occurring within the labour market. Support provided over the last year included work experience and workplace visits.
Over 1,500 students had the opportunity to go on an Open Doors workplace visit through East Sussex Careers Hub programmes in 2024/25. We also deliver the iCan campaign which supports young people in Year 9 upwards, and their parents, carers and supporters, who have barriers to accessing mainstream careers events. This includes students with special educational needs and disabilities, social, emotional or mental health issues, or other barriers. An iCan careers event in March 2025 was attended by more than 400 young people from 34 schools. They were able to explore career pathways, engage in 6 interactive workshops on employability skills, and connect with representatives from 32 different organisations.
Building on the success of the Effective Transitions ‘Steps to Success’ pilot project, which ran between 2021 – 2023, the Council secured nearly £500,000 of funding in 2024/25 for Phase 2 of this project, for the period 2024 – 2026. The ongoing project will help determine what interventions are effective in helping vulnerable young people to successfully transition into the post-16 environment. Phase 2 started in September 2024, with 315 Year 10 students receiving 1:1 coaching to help them develop personal and careers development goals, personal statement writing skills and provide bespoke work placements. The students were in receipt of Free School Meals and were either persistently absent from school or had Special Education Needs or Disabilities.
The Multiply programme, which was funded by the Government, came to an end in 2024/25. During the 3 years that the scheme was in operation, over 3,000 local people took part in free classes. People were helped to increase their maths skills using a range of topics such as household budgeting, forestry, digital skills and cookery.
6,600 children took part in the Summer Reading Challenge in our libraries in 2024, with nearly 4,000 children completing the challenge. This annual free event encourages children to read for fun during the school holidays to maintain reading skills and confidence. The Summer Reading Challenge is open to all primary school-aged children, and is a flexible programme designed for all levels of reading ability.
Throughout 2024/25, 1,347 people enrolled on Family Learning Programmes in our libraries. 99 people passed online learning courses at our libraries, achieving qualifications to help towards finding work, gaining a new role, or entering further education to improve their careers.
Infrastructure improvements
We repair and maintain most roads and pavements in East Sussex. To mitigate the impact of increasingly wetter winters on road conditions, we invested an additional £1m in patching the county’s roads during 2024/25. The funding doubled the county’s road patching programme and meant we have made £22.5m of additional investment in our roads over the last 3 years.
During 2024/25 year we repaired over 23,000 potholes and completed 510 patches to roads across 381 sites. 350 road signs were replaced, repaired or cleaned and we refreshed 683 road markings. 640 drainage schemes and 117 road improvement schemes were completed.
The East Sussex Local Transport Plan 4, which covers 2024 to 2050, was adopted by the Council in October 2024. This updated Plan has an increased emphasis on planning for people and places. It sets out how transport can help support the delivery of the Council’s commitment of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, sustainable economic growth in the county, and improve the county’s economic connectivity.
We received £4.4m from the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure fund during the year. This funding will be used to support the delivery of on-street electric vehicle charge points across the county, with work now underway to procure a chargepoint operator.
We delivered improvements to bus services in the county in 2024/25 as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). East Sussex was initially awarded £41.4m of funding by the Department for Transport, plus an additional £9.9m for 2025/26. Through the BSIP we have delivered:
- £15m of new or enhanced bus services
- £8m of bus fare reductions
- £1.5m on bus stop infrastructure
- £1m on real time passenger information provision, among other programmes
During 2024/25 we completed 24 road safety infrastructure schemes on sites and routes identified as being high risk. Our wider work on road safety also included the national Bikeability scheme, which helps to prepare people for cycling safely on the road. We delivered 476 Bikeability courses to 4,085 people at participating schools and the Cycle Centre at Eastbourne Sports Park during the year. We also delivered 474 Wheels for All sessions to 5,823 people at the Sports Park.
Supporting children to reach their potential
The Council's Education East Sussex service works with schools and families to deliver excellence and inclusion in education. It helps us to be more effective in championing vulnerable children and leading the local education system. In 2024 we updated our Excellence for All Vision, which spans 6 years up to 2030, and are working to ensure:
- all children and young people in East Sussex achieve the best outcomes to prepare them for success
- we will have an excellent education system that is inclusive, with schools rooted in their communities
- all children and young people wherever they live, and whatever their circumstance, will have an equitable start, and will begin education on an equal footing with their peers
We work closely with schools and other agencies to reduce the number of children who are excluded. The Inclusion Partnerships are monthly multi-agency Partnership meetings for secondary schools which discuss the needs of children with complex cases and those at high risk of permanent exclusion. Where appropriate, additional funding is agreed to support the schools. This has been used to provide workshops for children on areas such as self-esteem, developing positive healthy relationships and mental health. The impact of this work has been significant and has contributed to the overall reduction of secondary permanent exclusions by 34.7% during the year. In 2024/25 there were 99 referrals to the Inclusion Partnerships and 93.7% of these resulted in appropriate support and prevented a permanent exclusion.
We continued to successfully allocate school places for children across the county in 2024/25. 96.5% of East Sussex residents who applied on time for a secondary school place were allocated a place at one of their preferred schools, compared to 96.3% nationally. 86.1% of these were offered their first preference, compared to 83.5% nationally.
The Council organised a ‘The Power of Connection: Responding Together for Success’ event in January 2025. The event aimed to improve attendance across our schools by fostering collaboration across key groups, with 140 headteachers, principals and attendance leads present. A Young Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Ambassador opened the event and highlighted the importance of breaking down barriers to improve attendance. Attendees also celebrated and shared best practice from local primary and secondary schools.
Protecting the environment
In partnership with the private, public and educational sector organisations that make up Environment East Sussex, we worked to implement the East Sussex Environment Strategy and the Climate Change Roadmap for the county. This has included delivering carbon literacy training, supporting county residents to purchase solar panels, and improving flood risk management in targeted areas.
The Council is the waste disposal authority for East Sussex. This role requires us to dispose of household waste collected from residents. Over the last year 55% of the county’s household waste was re-used, recycled or composted, or used beneficially.
Keeping vulnerable people safe
Keeping vulnerable children safe
Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) inspected the Council’s Children's Services in July 2025. The theme for this inspection visit was ‘Children in need or subject to a protection plan’. The inspection covered the following points:
- thresholds
- step-up/step-down between children in need and child protection
- children on the edge of care
- children subject to a letter before proceedings and the quality and impact of pre-proceedings interventions, such as family group decision-making meetings
- children in need at risk of family breakdown
- the quality of decisions about entering care
- protection of disabled children
This type of visit does not provide an outcome grading but instead sets out key findings within the area of focus or theme. The visit and the subsequent response letter were resoundingly positive.
Ofsted said:
Children in need in East Sussex, and those who are the subject of a child protection plan, are receiving services that make a positive difference for them and whose effectiveness is being continually developed.
The senior leadership team, with strong corporate support, continues to invest in services for vulnerable children. Leaders have continuously developed and refined services to ensure they have a positive impact on children’s lives.
There is a strong focus on providing integrated, multidisciplinary support to children and families. This approach ensures that children and families benefit from consistent, high-quality practice that supports their progress and improves their lives.
There is relentless focus on supporting a stable and committed workforce, enabling staff to develop their skills and feel valued within the council. Leaders are actively creating the right conditions to strengthen social work practice and improve the quality of services for children and families.
Ofsted also gave encouraging recognition of leadership and of the Council as being a reflective and improvement driven local authority:
Leaders have a clear understanding of their strengths and areas for development. The local authority’s self-evaluation is reflective and demonstrates a commitment to learning, developing social work practice, and responding to areas where development is needed. This understanding has been used by the Director of Children’s Services and her wider leadership team to drive ongoing improvement in the quality and impact of services for children.
Our youth justice service was inspected by HM Inspectorate of Probation in June 2024 and rated ‘good’. The service works with children and young people across the county to prevent offending or reoffending. The inspection team recognised that the service is well-led, highlighting partnership working as a strength and rated nine of the 13 areas inspected as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, particularly that “partnership working that provides tangible, individualised services for children with different lived experiences is a notable strength.” Further highlights included leadership of the service, the dedication and commitment of staff, and the range of high-quality services in place to personalise support. The inspection team provided some recommendations for how the service could improve further, and we will work with our partners to implement these and deliver the best outcomes for children and young people.
Our Connected Families Intervention Practitioners are a multi-agency team delivering rapid and proactive support to tackle the main causes of parental and family breakdown. They work with parents or carers who are experiencing domestic abuse, problematic mental health and/or problematic drug and alcohol use and have a child in need (CIN) or on a child protection (CP) plan. The team aim to:
- provide dedicated support for parents to address the barriers that impact on them safely and consistently caring for their children
- support families to stay together
- improve the wellbeing and life chances of children
Work by the Connected Families Intervention Practitioners has helped to reduce the number of children with a child protection plan by 11% between April 2024 and April 2025. The number of children with a child in need plan also reduced between April 2024 and April 2025, by 10%.
The Council opened 11 Family Hubs in 2023/24, and these are now well established and providing a range of Early Help services. The Early Help service consists of East Sussex County Council and NHS professionals. They aim to support families from pregnancy up until the child is 19 and help to identify and support early years Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Help and support available at the Family Hubs includes:
- health visiting services for parents
- infant feeding advice, with breast feeding rates in East Sussex higher than the national average
- support to improve language and communication skills for those children not reaching their expected milestones
- perinatal mental health support to help parents improve their mental health.
The Council carried out work on two of its Youth Hubs in 2024/25. Heathfield Youth Hub is a new purpose-built hub, offering young people from Heathfield and the surrounding area access to a range of positive activities and youth support services. The JOFF Youth Hub in Peacehaven was refurbished, with the upgraded hub also offering a broad range of positive activities and youth support services, for young people from the havens. Both Youth Hubs opened in 2025.
Keeping vulnerable adults safe
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the Council in 2025 and gave a positive assessment of our adult social care services, recognising our commitment to providing the best possible support for residents. Giving the Council a rating of ‘good’, the CQC highlighted the collaboration with those using the service as a ‘real strength’.
Their report, which was based on an inspection and feedback from residents and partners, found our workforce to be knowledgeable and passionate, supported by a strong leadership team, and recognised the efforts of staff to provide care and support that was person-centred through services that were easy to access. Effective systems, processes and practices were in place to ensure people are protected from abuse and neglect, strengthened by the ethos that safeguarding was “everyone’s business” which inspectors found to be embedded across the local authority.
The CQC's chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:
What really stood out was how people felt listened to and treated with dignity. The staff at East Sussex should be really pleased with their good rating and the services they're providing to people in the county.
Last year we supported over 30,000 people with our adult social care services, providing care, support and independence for adults across East Sussex. During this time we made significant progress in reducing waiting times for services. We met all our targets for completing reviews and assessments for both adults and carers in 2024/25. To keep up with growing demand, we increased the number of Care Act assessments and reviews carried out compared to previous years. This has helped us respond more quickly and ensure that people with the greatest needs are prioritised.
We’ve also taken steps to improve the experience for those waiting for services. We introduced a new letter format which now gives adults and carers a clearer idea of how long they might wait for an assessment, along with information on where to find advice and support in the meantime. These changes are helping us deliver a more responsive and supportive service for our residents. When surveyed, more people said that they found it easy to find information and advice about services compared to the previous year.
The Council works closely with our strategic partner Care for the Carers, who we commission to provide a wide range of services. In 2024/25 Care for the Carers provided information, advice, and support to 11,337 carers. This was up 4% from the previous year, an increase of 477 carers.
The Council’s Neighbourhood Support Teams assess people’s care needs, work with them to identify their desired outcomes and arrange support that enables them to achieve that.
Case study: neighbourhood support
A family member told us about the difference the team made to her and her father: ‘They helped me re-home my father from his previous home which I am eternally grateful for. We have found a wonderful residential care home in East Sussex which my father has fallen in love with. Thank you and the team for making this happen and pleasing a gentleman to live out his twilight years next to the sea close to his only daughter. I would like to say how impressed I am with the team throughout this experience and congratulate them on the professionalism and compassion extended to me and my father.’
The Council teamed up with youth services and charities during the year to help reduce serious violent crime in areas where it happens most often. Our work included:
- starting a pilot Youth Infrastructure Forum in Newhaven
- running safeguarding projects in Bexhill to help protect young people
- tackling concerns about child criminal exploitation
- supporting joint work in Hailsham to improve safety
We supported joint projects in the county, including funding for a young women’s advocacy group called ‘I’m Speaking’, and running a summer outreach programme for over 100 children. We also organised partnership “days of action” to help address crime and anti-social behaviour. These activities included street cleaning, outreach for people affected by drug and alcohol misuse, visible police patrols, and talking with residents to hear their concerns.
A key focus of Council’s Trading Standards team is seeking to prevent vulnerable residents from becoming victims of scams, financial abuse or doorstep crime. During 2024/25, the service directly supported many vulnerable residents and made 290 active interventions with vulnerable people who had been the target of rogue trading or financial abuse. The Trading Standards team continue to install ‘cold call’ blockers, dummy CCTV cameras and other devices to reduce the risk of vulnerable residents becoming victims again. Trading Standards seized a significant amount of illegal tobacco and vape products in 2024/25. Products with a genuine retail value of over £500,000 were seized, reducing the risks to the public’s health.
Case Study: Trading Standards
Following 2 inspections by Trading Standards of a shop in St Leonards, £6,000 worth of illegal tobacco and cigarettes were found. The shop owner was prosecuted and sentenced to 16 weeks in prison in November 2024.
Helping people help themselves
Supporting local communities
Volunteers in our communities play a vital role. New volunteer groups and hubs have been created across the county. These serve as an essential and valued source of advice, support and connection. We have supported volunteering through developing new functions with the online Tribe platform, which included a promotional campaign on social media campaign which prompted over 2,000 sessions on the system for people looking for volunteering opportunities across the county. We supported Volunteers Week in June 2025, to celebrate the valuable efforts of volunteers in East Sussex.
Life Transitions is a free service provided by the Council which is staffed by volunteers. The service supports people living in the county to help them plan for their futures. It helps people prepare for major life changes, feel in control and get better outcomes from those changes. When asked, 100% of people who have accessed the service said they were taking action to prepare for their planned transitions and felt an improved sense of control and wellbeing. People also said they felt more empowered throughout the process.
Case study: Life Transitions service
Mrs A told us about her experience of the service: “I had my second meeting with my volunteer today and obviously enjoyed talking with her as she is lovely. It was a good session and beneficial to have some time just to concentrate on yourself and what is important to you. My volunteer and I discussed this in our session and it is not apparent until you actually start to have these sessions just how important it is to do this, as we are all so busy you can be a bit like a hamster on a wheel and forget to attend to your own needs and focus on what you want. This meeting was very useful and thought provoking, I found it has helped me to focus on things that are important to me, both for work and my personal life.”
The Library and Information Service provides a range of volunteering roles to support the Libraries Strategic Commissioning Strategy. In 2024/25, 305 volunteers supported library activities across the county, delivering 36,075 services to residents. Activities the volunteers helped to deliver included rhymetime and storytime sessions, homework clubs, book clubs, home library services and IT for You sessions.
Case study: IT for You
Maria was a lady in her 80s and living alone with no family support network. Maria did not have a mobile phone and became isolated when her landline phone was disconnected. IT for You helped Maria get her landline reconnected and gave her support and tuition to use a new smartphone and email account. Maria now has access to the NHS app and an NHS online account, where she can access health information including prescriptions and test results. Maria continues to attend IT for You for ongoing support. Maria said she would be ‘absolutely lost without IT for You’.
The Council and partners organised over 80 activities for September and October 2025 as part of the Full of Life Festival, to celebrate the role older people play in our communities. The activities help older people make connections, understand how to look after themselves and provide a range of activities to boost their health and wellbeing.
With the support of our Homes for Ukraine partnership, East Sussex has welcomed over 1,990 Ukrainians under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, providing the support which enable them to integrate into local communities. 848 people have now successfully moved from their host’s accommodation into their own independent accommodation.
Smokefree Beaches were launched at Camber Sands and Bexhill Beach in March 2025. The Council worked in partnership with Rother District Council and Camber Parish Council to launch one of England’s first Voluntary Smoke Free Beaches for No Smoking Day 2025. The scheme gained local, regional, and national media attention, helping to raise awareness of the health impact of smoking and second-hand smoking on children and young people. It highlighted the support the Council provides to residents in the county to help them quit smoking. There was also a noticeable reduction in smoking-related litter observed on the pilot beaches, which has environmental benefits. Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic waste. The filters are made from plastic cellulose acetate which break down into microplastics. They also leak chemicals into the sea as they break down, damaging delicate marine ecosystems. East Sussex has two Marine Conservation Zones, including one directly offshore from Bexhill Beach. These protect rare underwater chalk reefs and vulnerable blue mussel beds, as well as diverse marine life.
Helping people maintain their independence
The support provided by our Joint Community Rehabilitation (JCR) service is valued highly by residents and was described by the LGA Peer Review as “outstanding partnership provision”. The service visits people in their home after they’ve come out of hospital or been unwell and help them get their independence back. People across East Sussex can access our JCR service, which works with adults for a time-limited period to support them to maximise their independence and reduce the need for ongoing care and support.
Case study: support to maximise independence
Mrs C left hospital and within two hours had someone at home assessing their immediate needs, including input from further health care professionals. In the days that followed, Mrs C and their carer (Carer A) had the JCR Teams coming in to support them with personal care. Carer A can do almost all else domestically but was concerned about the lifting and handling of Mrs C.
Carer A said: “The JCR Team came in and did an amazing job, they really were all lovely, good caring people, and it gave both Mrs C and me the confidence to move forward at the appropriate time, which we are now doing. Slowly but surely Mrs C is getting more confidence, feeling much more positive and a lot better. There is still a way to go, but all of this is down to appropriately targeted support by the right teams. I’ve been most impressed with the transition from hospital and the support following on”.
Helping people to stay safe and secure
A befriending scheme developed by the Council with partners and residents, aims to tackle chronic loneliness and isolation, and improve older adults’ mental health and wellbeing. The LGA Peer Review of our adult social care services in 2024 highlighted this scheme. They said: “The scheme was coproduced with residents who draw on care and support services to ensure the user voice was central to the service design. People who draw on care and support services spoke highly of this service and how it has given them a ‘lifeline’”. In 2024/25, 55 clients joined the befriending service, supported by 35 volunteers.
Case study: tackling loneliness
“My experience with the befriending scheme is amazing, I live alone with no grandchildren so seeing lovely Clara and her baby every week means so much to me. We have great conversations and she so supportive. I suffer chronic pain, Clara understands and is a very kind to me. I would like to say a big thank you to Age UK for this service.”
“My journey with Dotty has been really lovely and fulfilling, we had a very good connection from the very beginning. I always wanted to volunteer for Age UK and I found the great opportunity during my maternity leave which can be a bit isolated for mums as well! Dotty has a really good sense of humour and she’s really interesting. Age UK matches with someone near you, so it’s really easy to meet up in person!”
The Council works with partners on the Financial Inclusion Programme, which brings together statutory, voluntary and other partners to improve residents’ financial wellbeing and resilience. During 2024/25 the Programme distributed the Household Support Fund, which made 170,000 awards totalling £7m to support households struggling with the cost of bills and essentials. Benefits maximisation campaigns also took place, which contributed to increases in resident income through benefits of over £1m per year. The ‘Additional Measures’ grants programme provided additional funding to the money advice sector during the year, reaching over 3,000 clients and delivering £2.7m of increased income and debt reduction.
The Financial Inclusion Programme includes joint working with local partners like Age Concern Eastbourne to deliver welfare benefits support and money advice services. These services provide essential support to residents to help them maximise their income and build financial resilience.
Case study: money help and advice
Mr R lives in Eastbourne and has cognitive decline. He was referred to the Memory Clinic for assessment and an Attendance Allowance claim was submitted. The welfare benefit adviser called the Memory Clinic and advocated for Mr R to confirm an appointment for him. The Attendance Allowance claim for benefit was awarded at ‘reconsideration stage’ and Pension Credit was awarded and backdated. This not only increased Mr R’s finances monthly but also meant he will receive help with his rent and council tax. In addition, he will be eligible to receive the Winter Fuel Allowance and cold weather payments and a Warm Home Discount.
The Warm Home Checks service completed 461 assessments in 2024/25, and provided advice to over 12,000 residents. In partnership with the 5 district and borough councils in East Sussex, we secured an extra £3.9m, from the Governments Warm Home Local Grant scheme in 2024/25. The funding will help provide energy performance upgrades and local carbon heating for households over the next 3 years.
In July 2024 the Council launched the UK’s first, free at the point of delivery, online HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) service to provide people at risk of contracting HIV with easier access to preventative treatment. PrEP comes as tablets containing medicine that is used to reduce the risk of getting HIV. By the end of April 2025 over 250 people were accessing PrEP services in the county, reducing their risk of contracting HIV.
Helping children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The Council continues to improve the service offered to children with SEND. This has included opening several specialist facilities at mainstream schools in recent years, with plans for more facilities in progress.
Our SEND services were inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in November 2024. They found that, "Support for the most vulnerable children and young people and their families is rightly prioritised by the local partnership... When families receive support from social care teams or early help, strong multidisciplinary working enables effective interventions that prioritise the needs of children and young people." The report sets out the strengths of the East Sussex Local Partnership, along with those areas where we need to do more. Following on from this inspection the Partnership are working to make the improvements identified, and a new SEND strategy which will incorporate these changes will be published in 2026.
Our Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) Transitions Service works with schools to carry out annual reviews for children and young people with EHCPs. The annual reviews check that provision is being delivered in line with the EHCP and to prepare children and young people for transition to their next phase of education. Over the year we led over 100 annual reviews and worked directly with over 400 children and young people. We received very positive feedback from schools, children and young people and families. 100% of respondents agreed that ‘The annual review was focused on the child/young person's future aspirations’, and 100% of families who responded agreed that ‘My needs, feelings and wishes were listened to’.
Making best use of resources now and for the future
Efficient and effective working
Our Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources approach to business planning continues to prove effective in matching our resources with our delivery plans for our priority outcomes during 2024/25. Our integrated planning process has allowed us to focus and protect our spending where it will deliver our priority objectives most effectively. We continue to ensure we have the demographic trends and performance information to monitor progress, as well as evidence to support lobbying at a local, regional and national level.
We continued our lobbying activities in 2024/25, feeding into national policy and helping to promote the needs of our area, and our neighbours across the South East through our partnership work.
We ensure that we manage and optimise our financial resources within sound governance and financial assurance. Our most recent External Auditor report in November 2023 reviewed the Council’s Value for Money arrangements. The Auditor considered whether the Council has in place proper arrangements to ensure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of its resources. They found that there were no significant weaknesses in our financial arrangements.
Work to invest in the development and wellbeing of our staff was ongoing. 147 new and existing staff enrolled on to an apprenticeship in 2024/25, an increase of 21% on 2023/24. Our ‘Ladder to Leadership’ programme is designed to give leaders in the early stages of their careers the leadership skills and competencies needed to step into more senior roles. The most recent programme concluded in 2025 and another is scheduled to take place in 2026.
We are committed to making the best use of our land and buildings. The Council rationalised its buildings at County Hall in 2024/25, which allowed us to close two of the blocks in the building. The vacant blocks are being advertised for rent. Reducing the number of blocks we use at County Hall has helped us to lower both our costs and carbon emissions. Work to reduce our office buildings over recent years, including in Lewes, Eastbourne and Hastings, has produced over £1m of financial benefits for the authority.
We continue to explore opportunities to use technology, including AI, to improve how we deliver our services. We have trialled the use of Microsoft Copilot, which will help staff to spend less time on administrative tasks. We will expand our use of AI further in 2025/26, making sure that the technology we use meets the highest ethical and privacy standards as well as delivering best value for money.
Reducing our carbon footprint
In line with our Climate Action Plan, we delivered a programme of carbon reduction projects in schools and across our corporate estate in 2024/25. These included:
- 4 low energy lighting projects
- 5 solar panel projects
- 7 decarbonisation of heat projects to transition properties to more energy efficient forms of heating
- 3 window replacement and insulation improvements
- 1 asset rationalisation project
Case study: reducing carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
In May 2023 an additional 282 solar PV panels were added to the existing system at The Keep Archive Centre. This more than tripled the total amount of solar PV electricity provided to the building. In 2024/25, because of this work, the combined system saved the site £27,100 on its energy bills and 25 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) on its carbon emissions. This is equal to driving an average family car with a petrol engine about 127,000 miles.
Additional information
Full details of our results against 2024/25 Council Plan targets and budgets can be found in our end of year monitoring report. Details of our future actions and targets to deliver our priority outcomes are set out in the Council Plan 2025/26. A full review of the Council’s position and future challenges can be found in State of the County 2025 (please see Cabinet Item 5 Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources - State of the County).
There is a lot more information on our website about the services we provide, how the Council works, how to contact your local councillor and how you can have your say about Council services and decisions.