Budget and Council Tax charges

1 Our 2025-2026 budget

Each year, West Sussex County Council approves a budget for the next year. They do this alongside a 5 year capital programme. These pages will give you information about:

how we spend money
where out money comes from
how it relates to your Council Tax bill

From the Leader of West Sussex County Council

"West Sussex County Council will spend £2 billion to deliver day-to-day services in the coming year to a growing population of approximately 882,600 residents and 42,600 businesses across our county.

To continue to provide these vital services and meet higher inflation rates we need to increase the county council’s element of Council Tax. Details of the increase are on the about the Council Tax charge page.

This will allow us to continue to deliver our Council Plan priorities and support those most in need, whilst investing in services used by all who live, work and visit West Sussex.

Our budget includes an additional £81.9 million to maintain services for:

vulnerable children and young people
adults’ social care
maintaining the county’s 4,000km of roads
managing increased costs, as inflation levels remain high.

We appreciate the pressures that many people in our communities are facing. Help is available and we encourage anyone struggling to pay their council tax to contact their local district or borough council to see if they are eligible for a discount or exemption."

Paul Marshall, Leader of West Sussex County Council

For more information from the Leader, see our budget news page.

Supporting documents

You can download and print a document version of these pages.

Our budget and Council Tax charges (PDF, 934KB)

Setting the budget involves agreeing statutory and discretionary fees and charges. You can find these in the 'Fees and charges schedule' on the budget documents page. This page also has documents showing detailed information for this year and previous years.

2 How we spend our funds

For 2025-2026, the county council has approved planned gross expenditure of £2.2 billion across the following areas:

Sources of funding

The money will come from:

How spending has changed since 2024-2025

For details of how the spending for 2025-2026 has changed from 2024-2025, see the 2025-2026 budget book, on the budget documents page.

3 Our capital investment and expenditure

In addition to our £2.2 billion gross expenditure on day-to-day services, the county council has a 5 year capital investment programme for longer term improvements. We expect to spend £118.6 million on planned investment in capital projects for 2025-2026 and £739.9 million over the next 5 years.

This 2025-2026 spend includes:

£50.1 million in highways and transport reflecting its importance for economic growth
£25.7 million investment in the county’s schools, early year settings and accommodation to support vulnerable children

The below graph shows the total 2024-2025 capital expenditure. It also shows the allocation of spending between services.

Total capital expenditure of £131.6 million. This is made up of: £30.1m for managing schools and education, £2.7m children's social care and supporting young people, £2.9m for Fire and Rescue Service, £0.1m for supporting local communities, £16.9m for protecting the environment, recycling and waste disposal, £14.4m for running our organisation, £59.1m for maintenance of our roads and providing transport, and £5.4m for supporting the local economy.

4 Council Tax charges

The West Sussex County Council (WSCC) part of your Council Tax charge will increase by 4.99%. For an average band D household, this increase is about £1.65 per week.

In addition, your bill includes charges for your:

district or borough council
Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner
town or parish council, if applicable.

Details of your full Council Tax charge are in your bill. See paying your Council Tax.

Charges for 2025-2026

The amount of Council Tax you pay depends on your Council Tax band, which is based on the value of your home in 1991. For Council Tax banding queries, contact the Valuation Office Agency.

This table shows the county council charges for 2025-2026:

The West Sussex County charge for each valuation band.
Valuation band	West Sussex County Council charge
A	£1,200.36
B	£1,400.42
C	£1,600.48
D	£1,800.54
E	£2,200.66
F	£2,600.78
G	£3,000.90
H	£3,601.08

Presentation of charges

There is a a change to the presentation of your charges in your 2025-2026 bill.

Previously, there were 2 parts to your WSCC charge - a core charge and a specific charge for the Adult Social Care Precept. The government introduced the precept to respond to rising demand for adult social care services.

From 2025-2026, the government no longer require these charges to be shown as 2 separate lines on your bill. You will now see your total WSCC charge displayed on one line.

When comparing, this years increase is applied to the overall (both core and precept) charge from last year.

5 Paying your Council Tax

You pay your Council Tax to your district or borough council.

For more information, enter your postcode on our how to pay Council Tax page. This will direct you to your district or borough council's website.

Help to pay your Council Tax

Your district or borough council will also give you information about help to pay Council Tax. This includes discounts and exemptions if they apply.

We offer help, advice and practical support on topics ranging from money management to energy saving. See our pages about the cost of living.

6 Budget documents

The budget book documents below show the full details of our budget with descriptions of spending.