Eastbourne council furloughs 280 staff

The borough council has used the government’s job retention scheme to furlough regular and casual workers, who it says will not lose money as a result of this.

A spokesperson for the council said, “Most of the staff would normally be working within venues such as our theatres or involved in organising and running our extensive summer events calendar.

East Sussex County Council facing £32 million black hole

“At this time with venues closed, many events cancelled and the council dealing with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there is a funding gap due to reduced levels of income and increased costs associated with our emergency response.

“Seaside towns dependent on the visitor economy have been particularly affected by loss of business.

“We are doing everything possible to bridge the gap, but ultimately we are reliant on the government fulfilling their commitment to reimburse councils for the full financial impact of the Covid-19 crisis.”

This comes after Eastbourne Borough Council revealed the cost of coronavirus could reach millions, as high as £300,000 a week.

Coronavirus costs to Eastbourne council could reach millions

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.