SUSSEX councils will receive more than £56 million from the Budget to cope with the social care crisis.

Brighton and Hove City Council will have £10 million over the next three years, East Sussex £21.9 million and West Sussex County Council £25 million.

The leader of the city council, Warren Morgan, said he feared the new funding could be followed by additional responsibilities passed down by Government or further cuts to council budgets elsewhere.

Leading Conservative council figures Louise Goldsmith and David Elkin welcomed the additional funding but said it would not fill the gap.

The grant funding is part an additional £2 billion over the next three years announced in Wednesday’s Budget by the Chancellor Philip Hammond, though the implications for the county only emerged days later.

It is the second adult social care cash boost for councils in a matter of months after communities minister Sajid Javid allowed authorities to raise council tax bills by an additional one per cent for the next two years in December.

East Sussex County Council has the second highest proportion of elderly within its population in the country.

It will receive £11 million in the next financial year, £7.3 million in 2018-19 and £3.6 million in 2019-20.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s care costs in 2017-18 are likely to be around £7 million more than last year and already exceed council tax receipts by £25 million.

West Sussex County Council is predicting its over-75 population will increase by an additional 2,200 each year until 2021 and then a further rise of 4,400 after that.

The authority will receive £11.3 million, £9.3 million and £4.6 million over the next three years.

Cllr Morgan said: “This additional funding could go some way to tackling our escalating social care costs but is in the context of a Budget that hasn’t faced up to the Tory decimation of local Government funding.

“We remain deeply concerned that the Government may now well make further cuts to councils or pass on additional responsibilities which may mean we are in fact no better off.”

The Labour leader said the new funding was released by a Government “under siege” from its Conservative council leaders.

Cllr Goldsmith said she had lobbied Mr Javid for more funding but is also calling for a Government task force to look at adult social care pressures.

She said: “This additional funding will not solve the long-term challenges we face at a national and local level but it will ensure we are able to now spend time looking for longer terms solutions as we are able to deal with the immediate financial pressures we face.”

Cllr David Elkin, East Sussex County Council deputy leader, said: “While the extra funding for social care announced by the chancellor won’t fill the gap, it will help us to further mitigate the savings we’re having to make.

“We’re also pleased the Government has announced a Green Paper on long-term funding for social care as it’s vital there is a sustainable model in place, to meet the growing demand for services now and in the future.”