MORE than 300 jobs are to be axed at West Sussex County Council as part of a cost-cutting move to keep council tax down. Various management and support posts will be phased out over the next three years in one of the biggest shake-ups of the county council's history. The announcement follows confirmation that West Sussex received the lowest budget deal of any council council in the country, with a grant increase of just 4.3 per cent compared to the county average of 5.9 per cent. "We face major pressures as a result of underfunding," said the county council's leader, Henry Smith. "Last week's announcement of how much money the government will provide towards next year's budget confirmed our worst fears. "This funding crisis means we are constantly having to find ways to drive down costs. The search for efficiency savings is relentless with more than £13 million achieved in the last two years. All our budgets have been put under the microscope to find even more savings." West Sussex has become one of the biggest casualties of the government's redistribution of grants. As part of a regional shift, it means that the South East will receive much less than authorities in the Midlands and the North East. West Sussex is expected to meet 38 per cent of its spending from council taxpayers. By contrast, authorities in Durham and Hull require 25 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. "Yet again West Sussex finds itself at the bottom of the pile," said Mr Smith. "We received the lowest increase of any county for Social Services, the third lowest for the fire service and the increase for highways maintenance is only two per cent while the county average is 2.7 per cent. It makes for very gloomy reading." A spokesman for the council stressed that "front- line" jobs such as teachers and social workers will not be affected. At the beginning of last year, West Sussex was officially declared an "excellent" authority by the government in a national assessment of the performance of county councils, despite suffering a £30 million shortfall in funding. "We have an excellent track record in keeping a tight rein on staff numbers," added Mr Smith. "Cutting our posts means hard decisions but we are determined to minimise the impact of the council tax burden on West Sussex residents." A spokesman for county councillor Tex Pemberton, who represents Fernhurst, said that he had no comment to make on the cuts at this time.
