Cost of living problems raised in East Sussex as council tax bills set to go up again

On Tuesday (January 25), East Sussex County Council’s cabinet discussed details of their budget proposals for the coming financial year, which will go to a full council vote next month. 

Among the proposals are plans to both increase the authority’s share of council tax by 1.99 per cent and to put up its adult social care precept by 2.5 per cent. Put together these would translate to a total increase of £69 per year for a Band D household.

Opposition councillors felt more needed to be done to ensure council services are resilient and raised the issue of the ‘cost of living crisis’.

Lib Dem Alan Shuttleworth said: “It is not enough to have aspirations in a report, and I quote, ‘we will identify external funding streams to sustain family support and youth work.’ The council has to demonstrate that priority in the budget it puts forward.

“You might say the government are coming forward with various schemes, in my view one-off schemes, such as the household support fund, only scratch the surface of the problem and will certainly not begin to address the huge problems that so many will face with rocketing energy bills.

“Whilst the government at the moment is paralysed and looking the other way, it is failing to address these challenges and the plight of so many people is getting worse.”