The Labour administration in Brighton & Hove has today set out its proposals for balancing the council’s budget for the next Financial Year, despite facing a real terms cut of more than £30m. This is the largest package of savings that Brighton & Hove city council has ever had to make and significantly higher than the savings made by the Green Administration last year. (2023-24: £18m).
Many council services are funded by the general fund, a revenue budget that funds things like staff salaries, the costs of running our refuse and recycling services, keeping our libraries open and handling the 1 million requests we receive each year. Half of our overall budget is restricted by law to spend on housing benefit, council housing, public health and schools.
Over the past 14 years, Conservative government cuts to local government have resulted in a real terms cut of over £100 million to Brighton and Hove. The previous Green administration also overspent the Council’s budget by over £3million in 2022-23, reducing our working balance, leaving the Council in a highly precarious financial situation, and prompting auditors to call into question the Council’s financial sustainability.
The Labour-led council has almost balanced the in-year budget and is now proposing a balanced budget for the 24/25 Financial Year, despite significant challenges. In the proposals, Labour have prioritised protecting essential services including all council-run nurseries, libraries, street cleansing teams and keeping public toilets open.
However, difficult decisions have meant that cuts to services have been unavoidable, and this will impact on jobs. It is hoped that a redesign of the organisation, the deletion of vacant posts and redeployment opportunities, will mean redundancy will be avoided where possible.
An organisational redesign will see the council streamline management of services to save £2.4million and improve service delivery. Reprofiling of the council’s capital programme will ensure that investment in infrastructure and regeneration projects continues at pace on key regeneration projects. This includes delivering the new park on West Hove seafront (Kingsway to the Sea), a new leisure centre to replace the King Alfred, refurbishing Madeira Terraces, and our plans for a modular swimming pool at Withdean. All of these projects are funded through capital budgets and therefore not part of the £30million revenue cuts the council is facing.
Through budget reallocation and an organisational redesign, the Labour administration has taken care to ensure there is a long-term approach to keep the city moving forward and investing in priorities for the city. As a result, capital funding has been allocated towards reopening the public toilets at the Royal Pavilion and scoping options for a Park and Ride site, which was a key manifesto pledge. Labour have also committed funding to piloting on-site counselling support for pupils at city schools, to address the mental health crisis in schools.
In line with most other councils, Brighton & Hove is being forced by central government to increase Council Tax to meet pressures. An increase of 4.99% is proposed including a 2% precept ring-fenced to respond to the increasing demand for adult social care. The Council is committed to maintaining the Council Tax Reduction scheme for households in hardship, benefitting over 19,000 households to an overall value of over £18 million. From 2025, the Council will introduce a premium Council Tax on second and empty homes. This is expected to generate about £500,000 from 461 empty properties from April 2024 whilst the almost 1,400 second homes are expected to generate about £1.6m from April 2025.
Deputy Leader and Finance Lead, Councillor Jacob Taylor said: “Fourteen years of Tory austerity have taken their toll on council budgets, and councils all over the country are on the verge of financial collapse. We have had to make some extremely difficult decisions, but we have set a balanced budget for next financial year and will therefore not be joining the growing list of councils issuing Section 114 notices, declaring bankruptcy, or having to apply to government for emergency funding support.
“As your Labour Council we have done everything we can to minimise the impact on residents. Last year the Greens were asked to find £18 million of savings. This year we’ve had to find over £30 million of savings for the 24/25 financial year, including repaying part of the Green party overspend from last year.
“Despite this significant challenge, we are pleased to have protected frontline services, including maintaining all council-run nurseries, libraries, ensuring regular refuse & recycling collections, keeping public toilets open and that our lifeguard services remain fully staffed to ensure safety on our seafront.
“However, we recognise that cuts will impact on other areas. We will do everything we can to work with our communities to mitigate this impact and find solutions.”
Leader of the Council, Councillor Bella Sankey said: “Since 2010, the cuts agenda of Osborne-Cameron, has been rebadged in various forms by a merry-go-round of Tory leaders.
“Whatever you call it – austerity, Trussonomics, ‘tough decisions on the economy’ – ultimately it means underfunding public services so badly that there are now more children in relative poverty in Brighton & Hove than in 2010 and a housing crisis that has shamefully put England as the worst place in the developed world to find housing.
“These are difficult times for our city, but as your Labour council we have rescued the Council’s financial position, protected essential frontline services & we are investing in the health and wellbeing of our residents with an ambitious capital programme.
“With a future Labour Government, I believe our City can be rescued from Tory managed decline and become a fairer & better Brighton & Hove for all.”
