West Sussex County Council reveals £158m unpaid bill as debt puts ‘huge impact’ on cash flow
West Sussex County Council is owed more than £158m in unpaid invoices, councillors have been told.
The figure – a large portion of which related to adult social care – was shared during a scrutiny committee meeting on Friday (September 18).
Jane Davey, cabinet member for finance & property, said the level of debt was having ‘a huge impact’ on the council’s cash flow.
She pointed to ‘slow payments’ from organisations including the Integrated Care Board, other NHS bodies, and other local authorities as being part of the problem.
A report to the committee showed that, as of June, just over £79m of invoices – known as recharges debt – had been unpaid by such organisations. This was more than double the amount owed in March.
Ms Davey said: “My understanding is there have been a number of discussions at senior level with these partners to improve the payment of our invoices. Those conversations do need to continue because we’re clearly not there yet.”
She added: “For context, we have £80m worth of contributions to adult social care budgeted for in this financial year, hence the importance of collecting these debts.”
The council collects income from delivering a range of services, such as social care contributions, trade waste collection, commercial property rents and other chargeable activities delivered to businesses, partner organisations or individual residents.
In 2025/26, 85,000 invoices were raised totalling £302m. Some £59m – 69,000 invoices – related to adult social care.
A spokesman for NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board said: “We operate pooled budgets with West Sussex County Council and as a result there are regular transactions between both organisations for the commissioning of services.
“There are occasional delays due to backing information to support the invoices and to ensure we are allocating our budget – and taxpayers’ money – wisely.
“The current position is known and we are in constructive dialogue with local authority colleagues about how to resolve this going forward. As part of this, we have agreed a plan to clear the backlog on both sides in early October.”