Open Hastings Search or ask⌘K

Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (RPPR): Draft Council Plan 2026/27, Revenue Budget and Capital Programme

Committee report · Cabinet · Tue 27 Jan 2026 · East Sussex County Council

Read the council's document ↗

What it recommends

In the report's own words. A recommendation is a proposal: the meeting can agree, change or reject it.

What the meeting decided

The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED to: 1) Recommend the County Council to: i) Approve in principle the draft Council Plan 2026/27 at Appendix 1 of the report and authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the Plan in consultation with the relevant Lead Members; ii) Increase Council Tax by 2.99% in 2026/27; iii) Increase the Adult Social Care Precept by 2% in 2026/27; iv) Issue precepts to be paid by borough and district councils in accordance with the agreed schedule of instalments at Appendix 5 (draft) of the report; v) Approve the net…” minutes ↗

In plain English

Each sentence was checked against the passage it cites; how the checking works.

Recommended · This went to the meeting on Tue 27 Jan 2026. What was decided is in that meeting's minutes.

Cabinet is recommended to ask the County Council to increase Council Tax by 2.99% and the Adult Social Care Precept by 2% in 2026/27. p6p7

The report says that for the first time the Council is not able to present a balanced budget from its own resources, and the proposed 2026/27 revenue budget depends on the Government agreeing exceptional permission to borrow. p21

The Council has written to Government to request Exceptional Financial Support in the form of a £70m capitalisation direction to support the 2026/27 budget. p10

Cabinet is recommended to ask the County Council to approve a net Revenue Budget estimate of £693.2m for 2026/27. p9

The report identifies a further £3.5m of savings for 2026/27-2028/29, adding to a total of £8.0m of savings identified for that period, of which £6.3m is proposed for 2026/27. p99

Show the 6 passages this is based on
  • p6ii) increase Council Tax by 2.99% in 2026/27;
  • p7iii) increase the Adult Social Care Precept by 2% in 2026/27;
  • p9v) approve the net Revenue Budget estimate of £693.2m for 2026/27 set out in Appendix 2 (Medium Term Financial Plan) and Appendix 3 (draft) (Budget Summary) and authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer, Leader and Deputy Leader, to make adjustments to the presentation of the Budget Summary to reflect the final settlement and final budget decisions;
  • p10vi) note that the Council has written to Government to request Exceptional Financial Support in the form of a £70m capitalisation direction to support the budget in 2026/27;
  • p211 Introduction 1.1 This report marks an important, if unwelcome, milestone in this Council’s relentless drive to meet local needs as effectively as possible with inadequate resources. Despite a solid foundation of sound and prudent financial management over many years, as endorsed by multiple external assessments, and taking very difficult decisions to reduce services over time to manage within increasingly limited resources, we will now need to rely on borrowing to balance the budget for the coming year. For the first time, we are not able to present a balanced budget drawing on our own resources and the proposed revenue budget for 2026/27 presented in this report is contingent on Government’s agreement to additional support in the form of exceptional permission to borrow to fund day to day services.
  • p995.8 In total, potential further reductions of £3.5m have been identified across all departments. Added to those set out earlier last year this means a total of £8.0m savings have been identified for the period 2026/27-2028/29, with £6.3m proposed for delivery in 2026/27. The detailed proposals are set out at Appendix 4a. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement has not removed or reduced the requirement to identify savings wherever we can, given the legal requirement to balance the budget. Given the hard decisions already made, and current pressures on services, additional savings are expected to have further significant impacts on our residents, partners and staff, as well as affecting the organisation’s capacity to respond to new demands and transform services. These are not proposals we would wish to make, but at this point there are no desirable options.

Places and organisations it names

Other papers for this meeting

The council's document is the record; this page collects what Open Hastings knows about it. If something here is wrong, it is corrected in place and logged on the about page.