Brighton & Hove City Council's financial position has "improved"

Brighton & Hove City Council has released a statement on its current financial position, saying "At the end of the 24/25 financial year, the council has a £1million underspend, after taking tough action to make savings including strict vacancy and spending controls".

According to the council, early in the year forecasts indicated "significant pressures" of over £10million, which required a "sustained effort" by staff and services. 

The council implemented "normal financial management" across services, introduced and "strict recruitment and spending controls", and reviewed grants and provisions to "release funds to revenue wherever possible".

In the statement, the council said that while its financial position "shows progress", there are still "significant challenges ahead". It added: "2025/26 is likely to continue to be challenging due to the council's low reserves, pressures on services and further savings to meet".

In February, the council set a budget with £16million of savings to deliver and a further £6million of pressures across services. These pressures, the council says, "continue to grow".

According to the council, the local authority's reserves are "very low" compared to other similar authorities – "among the lowest 10 authorities in the country". The council announced in the statement that £3.3million came out of reserves in 2022/23 to "fund an overspend" in that year.

The council has said it "needs to build reserves to help provide resilience against the significant pressures all councils are facing including housing, temporary accommodation, social care and inflation".

"Achieving the 2024/25 underspend means the council can begin to address these concerns. The report to Cabinet proposes the £1 million underspend is added to the working balance (general reserves) to improve our financial resilience," it added.

Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Finance and City Regeneration, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement to have ended the year under budget. £1 million underspend towards our working balance means we’ve entered the new financial year in a stronger position than we expected a few months ago.

“This is a great start, but as with all local authorities, we have significant financial challenges and service pressures ahead. 

“There’s much more we need to do to build our reserves and ensure we remain financially resilient. 

“It’s also important to recognise the effort it took to achieve it. It’s been a difficult year, with tough decision for staff and unavoidable impacts on service delivery, but it has been extremely important for our finances.” 

The council’s Targeted Budget Management Provisional Outturn for 2024/25 is due to be presented to Cabinet next Thursday.