Our budget and Council Tax charges

1 Our 2026-2027 budget

Each year, West Sussex County Council approves a budget for the coming financial year at the budget meeting. We do this alongside a 5 year capital programme. These pages will give you information about:

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

Supporting documents

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

Our budget and Council Tax charges (PDF, 662KB)

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 2026-2027, the county council has approved planned gross expenditure of £2.3 billion across the following areas:

Sources of funding

The money will come from:

How spending has changed since 2025-2026

For details of how the spending for 2026-2027 has changed from 2025-2026, see the 2026-2027 budget book, on the budget documents page.

3 Our capital investment and expenditure

In addition to our £2.3 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 £142.3 million on planned investment in capital projects for 2026-2027 and £842.1 million over the next 5 years.

This 2026-2027 spend includes:

£56.5 million to maintain and improve our roads and provide transport
£39.3 million managing schools and education, and children’s social care and support, including adaptions in schools to increase the number of specialist places
£6.0 million for recycling and waste disposal and to protect the environment, mainly focused on investment into renewable energy and processing food waste

The below graph shows the total 2026-2027 capital expenditure. It also shows the allocation of spending between services.

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 £1.73 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 2026-2027

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.

You can find out your Council Tax band on GOV.UK.

This table shows the county council charges for 2026-2027:

The WSCC charge for each valuation band.
Valuation band	West Sussex County Council charge
A	£1,260.24
B	£1,470.28
C	£1,680.32
D	£1,890.36
E	£2,310.44
F	£2,730.52
G	£3,150.60
H	£3,780.72

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.