Council care costs 'through the roof' - leader

Councillor Keith Glazier said providing essential services is “particularly difficult”

The leader of East Sussex County Council said costs “going through the roof” have made providing essential services “particularly difficult”.

Councillor Keith Glazier said the “extreme cost” of social care for adults and children now takes up three quarters of the council’s budget.

He called for the government to allocate council funding on a four or five year cycle rather than annually.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government previously told the BBC it would “get councils back on their feet by getting the basics right."

The department said it would provide "more stability through multi-year funding settlements, end competitive bidding for pots of money and reform the local audit system”.

'Needs are greater'

In a wide-ranging interview in the hot seat on BBC Radio Sussex, the leader said: “People need to know that 76% of our funding goes on social care, be that children or adults.

"Generally speaking that will affect about 10% of our residents.

“The severity of people who come into social care now, their needs are much greater than they were years ago.”

He also revealed East Sussex Council is transporting 5,000 children to and from school every day, which is expected to cost £28 million this year, an overspend of around £4 million.

Mr Glazier said 80% of that budget is spent on specialist transport and support for the 25% of children who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

On road maintenance, including pothole repairs, Mr Glazier said: “There is this myth that ‘I pay my council tax and therefore the roads should be perfect’.

“We would all want to keep roads in a serviceable manner, but the backlog to fix all of the roads in East Sussex to a standard that we would all find acceptable would cost £300 million."

The council spent £48m maintaining roads, drains and pathways last year.

Mr Glazier said his proudest moment was when Ofsted rated the council as outstanding and good for its children’s services.

He said: “You can’t believe what pleasure that gave me to know that the team in East Sussex, with all the pressures that they were under, were able to achieve that.”