Budget 2025-2026
Our budget 2025-2026
We have worked hard to balance our budget for the years ahead, to ensure we make best use of resources and can continue to invest in and deliver services that support our communities.
Our budget for 2025-2026 amounts to over £2.2 billion which will be spent on services for our 900,900 residents and more than 42,500 businesses.
We provide around 80% of local government services and touch the lives of every resident and business in West Sussex, as well as tens of thousands of visitors.
Services provided by us include adults’ and children’s social care, education, public health, fire and rescue, roads, libraries, trading standards, economic development, and waste disposal and recycling.
However, the demand for these services costs more than the funding available, which includes council tax paid by residents. Our focus is to deliver services that support our communities and vulnerable people.
We have key priorities which shape the way we deliver services.
They are:
- keeping people safe from vulnerable situations
- a sustainable and prosperous economy
- helping people and communities fulfil their potential
- making the best use of resources
These priorities are all underpinned with a cross-cutting theme of protecting the environment.
For further detail on previous expenditure within the key services shown, please see our 2024-2025 Budget Book at: Budget Book 2024/25 (Document not suitable with assistive technologies)
Budget timeline
A budget consultation ran from Monday 4 November until Sunday 15 December, to allow residents to tell us what they think about our priorities, what approach they think we should take to bridge our budget gap, and whether we are spending the right amount on services.
Feedback from the consultation was considered by Cabinet Members at a meeting on 29 January 2025.
Proposals to deliver a balanced budget for the year ahead were examined by the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 22 January.
A final decision on our budget, and council tax rates, was made at Full Council on 14 February 2025.
More budget news
14/2/25: County council agrees a balanced budget without cuts to services - West Sussex County Council
29/1/25: Proposed County Council budget to go to Full Council for final decision - West Sussex County Council
16/1/25: Proposed County Council budget to go before scrutiny committee - West Sussex County Council
4/12/24: Last chance to have your say on our £2 billion budget - West Sussex County Council
29/10/24: Cabinet agrees next steps to set budget for year ahead - West Sussex County Council
You can subscribe to receive our Residents’ eNewsletter, which is issued regularly and includes information about a wide range of council services, projects and initiatives, as well as budget updates.
Annual report
Find out more about what the county council does and the services we provide in our Annual Report for 2023-2024.
Highlights include:
- 11,211 people received long-term adult social care support
- 5,335 people visited by our fire service to improve their fire safety
- 4,616 local businesses supported to start, revive, innovate, and grow
- 540+ road, footpath, drainage and transport improvement schemes delivered
- 7.89m uses of our libraries’ digital and virtual services
- 94% of pupils attend a West Sussex school rated ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’
- 2m+ visits booked to a Recycling Centre via our online booking system since it was introduced
- 115,276m2 of operational property, reduced by 3.5% from previous year
- 7 libraries, 6 fire stations, 1 day centre renovated to reduce their carbon footprint
- 10.5km of new cycle infrastructure.
Help and advice
There is help available if you need support with any aspect of your home finance or budgeting.
For advice and guidance on paying your council tax, contact your local district or borough council to see if you are eligible for a discount or exemption.
Further advice about local and national support can be found on our cost of living pages.