County councillors have agreed to move ahead with savings of more than £13.5 million next year.

On Tuesday (February 11), East Sussex County Council agreed its annual budget for 2025/26, which included: proposals to increase council tax bills by 4.99 per cent; savings targets totalling £13.5 million; and a £11.4 million draw from the authority’s reserves.

Lead member for resources and climate change Nick Bennett warned members the council faced significant financial challenges. He said: “I don’t think there can be a member in this chamber who is not now aware of the parlous state of the finances and reserves and the challenging costs that we continue to face, have faced and will face next year.”

He added: “We have lobbied hard with our partners, our MPs and through the [Local Government Association] and the County Councils’ Network, however the final local government financial settlement has not delivered the funding for local government that meets the challenges we face.

“This means that to balance the revenue budget for 2025/16, proposed today [and] which delivers over £1.1 billion gross expenditure and a total net budget of £580 million, we will need to make new savings and draw again from reserves.”

The budget includes new savings of £13.5 million in 2025/26. Of these, around £7.42 million are expected to come from the council’s adult social care department

This £7.42 million figure includes the not-yet-formally-agreed plans to close a number of day services for both older people and people with learning disabilities.

These day services are currently provided at: Milton Grange and Linden Court in Eastbourne; the Phoenix Centre in Lewes; and Hookstead in Crowborough. Milton Grange and the Phoenix Centre provide day services for older people, while Linden Court and Hookstead provide day services for people with learning disabilities.

A formal decision on the future of these day services is due to be made at a cabinet meeting later this month, but an amendment (jointly tabled by the council’s Liberal Democrat and Independent Democrat groups) sought to ‘reinstate’ these savings.

To do this, the amendment called on the council to draw an extra £1.519 million from the council’s reserves. This money was also intended to “reinstate savings” proposed for services for adults with mental health needs, who live in supported accommodation.

Introducing the amendment, Liberal Democrat leader David Tutt argued that £1.519 million would be less than what the council would have spent on elections, which (as a result of the government’s devolution and reorganisation plans) are no longer expected to take place this year.

The amendment failed to secure enough votes to become part of the substantive motion. It was defeated by 22 votes to 26. The original budget proposals were then voted through on the same margin.

The agreed budget includes an increase the authority’s council tax demand by 2.99 per cent, alongside a two per cent increase in its adult social care precept.

When combined, these increases would result in a band D household paying an additional £88.74 next year, before increases from other tax-raising authorities are also taken into account.

As well as the adult social care savings, £3.239 million are expected to come from the council’s children’s services budget. Council papers say around half of this figure (£1.593 million) is expected to come from changes to who looks after children in care. The council says it intends to find this money by reducing the overall number of children placed into care and to find ways to place more of those who are with foster families rather than “high cost” residential homes.

The council says it also intends to find savings of £1.06 million in its business services budget, £1.553 million in its communities, economy and transport budget and £233,000 in its governance services budget. These savings include plans to increase on-street pay and display parking fees by five per cent and staffing cuts.

Despite these savings, the council says it still expects to face a significant shortfall, which will require it to draw £11.4m from reserves. The council says this money will need to be drawn from “service specific” reserves, which officers warn will constrain the council’s ability to manage future financial risk and known liabilities in these areas.