How short of money are Hastings' two councils, and when is next year's budget set?
From the papers of Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council, built by fixed rules on
30 October 2026, 21.58. More on The councils' finances.
The short account
The county council
In November 2025 a report to the county council's Cabinet said there was no realistic path to a balanced budget, and that the council needed to prepare to request Exceptional Financial Support from the government. 2
On 10 February 2026 the county's Full Council approved a net revenue budget of £693.2m for 2026/27. 9
The county's share of Band D council tax for 2026/27 is £1,960.29 a year, up 4.99% on the year before. 25
A January report said the forecast £10.5m left in strategic reserves at 1 April 2026 is the only flexibility the council will have left to deal with in-year pressures. 19
The county's monitoring report in September 2026 projected an overspend of £4.1m by 31 March 2027. 23
A report to its Cabinet on 29 September 2026 said initial forecasts suggest the council will need further Exceptional Financial Support in 2027/28 to fund an expected deficit of £74.2 million, and that Full Council is due to decide the 2027/28 budget in February 2027. 15
The borough council
In December 2025 the borough's Medium Term Financial Strategy identified a cumulative funding gap of £3.9m up to the end of 2027/28, and Cabinet approved the strategy. 3
The auditor's annual report for 2024/25 said that without a deliverable, recurrent savings strategy, the council's financial sustainability remains a significant weakness, given an estimated £7.5m funding gap in 2028/29. 16
On 11 February 2026 the borough's Full Council agreed the 2026/27 revenue budget, and its share of Band D council tax for 2026/27 is £316.89 a year, up 2.99%. 1024
A report to Cabinet on 7 September 2026 named sustained homelessness demand and pressure on the temporary accommodation market as the council's most significant financial challenge. 14
The same report forecast a favourable variance of £208,679 and no need to draw on General Fund reserves, with a General Reserve of £8.0 million at 31 March 2027. 2218
1 further sentence of the draft was held back by checking and is not shown.
Drafted from the timeline and the papers below by a language model, checked sentence by sentence against the items it cites (the numbered links), and approved by the editor on 14 October 2026. Steps added to the timeline since then aren’t in it. How the checking works.
The report recommends: “i. note the updated policy context as set out in paragraph 2; ii. note the updated Medium Term Financial Plan as set out in paragraph 3 and appendix 1; iii. note the reserves summary set out in paragraph 3; iv. note the CIPFA Assurance Review report and recommendations at appendix 2 and the…”
The minutes record: Noted. “RESOLVED to: 1) note the updated policy context as set out in paragraph 2 of the report; 2) note the updated Medium Term Financial Plan as set out in paragraph 3 and appendix 1 of the report; 3) note the reserves summary set out in paragraph 3 of the report; 4) note the CIPFA Assurance Review report and recommendations at appendix 2 and the proposed response to recommendations at appendix 3 of the report; 5) note…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “Approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy.” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED (unanimously): 1) Approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy. 2) The Council continues to monitor its savings targets in the current and future financial years for its effectiveness, financial results, and organisational impact. Reasons: The ability to deliver key services to the most vulnerable is becoming increasingly hard to do.” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “i. note the updated policy context as set out in paragraph 2; ii. note the updated Medium Term Financial Plan as set out in paragraph 3 and Appendix 1; iii. note the further savings proposals set out in Appendix 2; iv. note the reserves summary set out in paragraph 3; v. note ongoing engagement…”
The minutes record: Noted. “RESOLVED to: 1) note the updated policy context as set out in paragraph 2 of the report; 2) note the updated Medium Term Financial Plan as set out in paragraph 3 and Appendix 1 of the report; 3) note the further savings proposals set out in Appendix 2 of the report; 4) note the reserves summary set out in paragraph 3 of the report; 5) note ongoing engagement with MHCLG in relation to Exceptional Financial Support as…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “To note the contents of the report, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section.”
The minutes record: Noted. “RESOLVED (unanimously): To note the contents of the report, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section. Reasons: To assist the Council in understanding the financial position and particularly areas of over and under spend. Early indications of emerging overspends can allow management action to be targeted to those areas. This monitoring assists with understanding the impact of the 2025/26…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “recommend the County Council to:” (and more)
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…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “Cabinet recommends that full Council:-.” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED (unanimously): Cabinet recommends that full Council:- ( i ) Approve the draft 2026/27 revenue budget (Appendix B) (ii) Approve a 2.99% increase in the Borough Council's part of the Council Tax (Appendix C – to be provided/updated for full Council). (iii) Approve the detailed recommendations in Appendix C, which relate to the setting of Council Tax in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “Cabinet recommends that full Council:-.” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED (unanimously): ( i ) Approve the draft 2026/27 revenue budget subject to the following amendments: a. Approve £10,000 revenue in 2026/27 for a Heritage Action Plan. b. Approve £65,000 revenue over 2026/27-2027/28 for Bayeux tapestry and Norman activities. c. Approve £30,000 revenue over 2026/27-2027/28 for Bottle Alley arts. d. Approve £160,000 revenue over 2026/27-2027/28 for hit/zap team to work across…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “To note the contents of the report, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section.”
The minutes record: Noted. “RESOLVED (unanimously): To note the contents of the report, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section. Reasons: To assist the Council in understanding the financial position and particularly areas of over and under spend. Early indications of emerging overspends can allow management action to be targeted to those areas. This monitoring assists with understanding the impact of the 2025/26…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “To note the contents of the report, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section.”
The minutes record: Noted. “RESOLVED (unanimously): To note the contents of the report, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section.” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “consider the evidence base on demographics (Appendix 1).” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED to: 1) Note the evidence base on demographics (Appendix 1 of the report); 2) Note the national and local policy outlook (Appendix 2 of the report); 3) Note the current financial outlook as set out in paragraph 5 of the report; and 4) Agree to consider a further report in September to review current priority outcomes, explore ideas and begin more detailed planning for 2027/28. Reasons 6.3 The State of the…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “Note the forecast revenue outturn position for 2026/27, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section.” (and more)
The minutes record: Noted. “RESOLVED (Unianimously): •Note the forecast revenue outturn position for 2026/27 and the actions within the conclusion and management action section. •Note detailed capital programme monitoring. •Review the analysis of the Council’s achievement against the PIER savings programme in 2026/27.” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “agree the revised priority and delivery outcomes to form the basis of business planning for 2027/28.” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED to: 1) agree the revised priority and delivery outcomes to form the basis of business planning for 2027/28; 2) note the updated planning position and the actions being taken to support the Council’s financial position as set out in the report; 3) agree that Chief Officers are to identify savings in the areas set out in section 5 of the report; and 4) agree to continue lobbying for sustainable funding to…” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “Note the forecast revenue outturn position for 2026/27, and the actions within the conclusion and management action section.” (and more)
Proposed: Put forward in a paper or a consultation. Nothing decided yet, as far as the record shows.
Decided: The minutes record a decision, or the paper states one was taken.
Funded: The minutes record agreement to money for it.
Started: Work began, or a rule came into force, on the date a paper states.
Delivered: Finished, as a paper states.
Noted: A meeting received it for information, or its minutes mention it. Nothing was decided.
Planned: A date a council paper gives for a step not yet reached.
Coming up: a meeting with papers published that hasn’t happened yet.
What happens next
Each council must set its council tax for the next financial year, which starts on 1 April, before 11 March. The law says a council tax set on or after that date isn't invalid for that reason alone.
When a council sets its budget, its chief finance officer must report to it on how robust the estimates are and whether the proposed reserves are adequate, and the council must have regard to that report.
The timeline is built by fixed rules from the councils' papers dated from 1 November 2025; no language model chooses what is in it. A meeting is one step: its papers on the story, what the main report recommended, and the resolution its minutes record for that item, matched the same way as on Coming up. A step is “Decided” only when the minutes record that the item was agreed or not agreed, or the minutes' checked summary says a decision was taken. The rules:
A report to Cabinet, Full Council whose title matches: \bbudget\b|\bMTFS\b|medium[- ]term financial|council tax|fees and charges|reserves policy|financial update|finance, risk; not titled with: ^appendix|monitoring tables|glossary|chamber of commerce|feedback|forward plan|travel budget. Every paper filed under the same agenda item joins it.
A report to Cabinet, Full Council whose title matches: \bRPPR\b|reconciling policy|\bbudget\b|council tax|medium term financial|\bMTFP\b; not titled with: ^appendix|ashdown|conservators|travel budget|transport. Every paper filed under the same agenda item joins it.
A report to Full Council whose title matches: ^report of the cabinet; in February. Every paper filed under the same agenda item joins it.
A consultation the councils list whose title matches draft budget|budget consultation, on the closing date its own page gives.
The rules live in config/stories.yaml. If we have got something wrong, it is corrected in place and logged on the about page.