East Sussex - our funding gap
The county council faces some extremely difficult choices about where it can continue to spend and where it must consider reducing services.
This is because the funding available is not enough to pay for the growing demand for council services and the rising cost of providing them.
It is forecast that from April the council will be up to £57m short of the money needed to continue services at their current level. That shortfall could rise to £85m by 2027.
The large majority of spending goes on services which, by law, the council must provide including social care for our family, friends and neighbours who need it most.
This includes care for children who need protection or cannot live with their families as well as for adults with profound physical or learning disability, mental impairment or who are frail and elderly.
It is also a legal duty to support many children and young people with special educational need or disability (SEND).
A much smaller part of spending, about a quarter, goes on the services which anyone may use – like roads, libraries and household waste sites.
By law, no council may spend more money than it has available.
What is the council already doing to meet this gap?
- Cutting day to day spending at the council, for example by only recruiting new staff when essential
- Being as efficient as possible. This includes using new technology to streamline work and improve public services
- Working with partners, including volunteers and carers, to create the most effective services we can
- Urgently pressing the government and MPs to get a better, fairer deal for East Sussex and its people
Reviewing some services
The funding gap is so large that these measures alone are not enough to meet our legal duty to balance our budget.
We have to meet both growing demand and rising costs for services we’re legally obliged to provide.
For example, in the past year the number of adults requiring full-time care has sharply increased by 500 to more than 7,340. The costs of looking after children in care have nearly doubled since 2020.
These pressures mean the council sees no option but to consider reducing some other services, even though we know how valued they are.
Have your say
A first step is to consult the public about possible changes to some areas of adult social care and health services.
We’re asking people to tell us what they think about these suggested changes and how they might affect you or your community.
The areas of possible service reduction and change are:
- Housing support
- Supported accommodation for vulnerable adults
- Supported accommodation for adults with mental health needs
- Phoenix Centre (Lewes) day service
- Milton Grange (Eastbourne) day service
- Mental health community outreach
- Linden Court (Eastbourne) and Beeching Park (Bexhill) day services
- Steps to Work, including Shine Car Wash (Lewes)
- Hookstead (Crowborough) and St Nicholas Centre (Lewes) day services
- Community support services for people with a learning disability
- Drug and alcohol recovery services
You can have your say on any or all these proposals from Thursday 3 October until Thursday 28 November. The easiest way to do this is online. Details of all 11 consultations are listed on our consultation hub:
The consultations can also be requested in other formats.
Other consultations
You can also have your say on proposals to save money in other areas:
- Parking charges in Rother - proposed changes (closes 28 November)
- Booking system - household waste recycling sites (closes 22 December)
What happens next
It’s important to say that no decisions have been taken yet.
Every response to the consultations will be analysed to give councillors who will be making decisions the full picture of the impact of proposed changes.
Any changes to services would need to be agreed by elected councillors and would form part of a proposed budget for 2025/26 to be decided by the full council in February.
It’s likely that later this autumn the council will need to propose some further savings. We will continue to consult the public about any significant changes to services before making any decisions.
More about the pressures on East Sussex
All councils face funding pressures but the situation here is more severe because of the nature of East Sussex.
The county has a much higher than average proportion of older residents, especially aged 85 or more. Older people add hugely to the life of the county but are more likely to need our services.
East Sussex also has a constrained economy with smaller businesses and average wages lower than the rest of the South East. There are limits on economic growth, partly because of our beautiful, protected landscape.
The county also has significant pockets of deprivation with some areas in the most 10% disadvantaged parts of England. Average wages in East Sussex are below the average for the country and for the South East.
None of these challenges are properly reflected in the national funding arrangements for local authorities.
The council continues to press for a fairer deal for East Sussex and points to a series of independent audits and inspections which have shown the county council offers good value for money.
See more
Latest budget picture and savings proposals – report to Cabinet 13 November