We’re committed to making Brighton & Hove a better place for all. As a learning organisation, we use feedback from our residents and communities, regulators, inspectors, peers, staff and senior leadership to shape our priorities and improve services.
Being a connected organisation is a key priority for our senior leadership team to develop Brighton & Hove as a place where people want to live, work and learn. Providing joined up services will ensure we deliver access to information, advice and services that people need.
Senior leaders see a clean, safe and well-maintained city as essential to attracting investment and boosting our economy. Protecting our historic, cultural and natural environment is also another tool for us to build Brighton & Hove as a key destination.
Financial sustainability remains a top priority. Our external auditors identified three major challenges in January 2025:
We are actively addressing these challenges, with good progress made so far.
Our Performance Management Framework supports us to achieve our council plan outcomes by helping us to track progress and improve services. We report twice a year to the Cabinet and annually to the full Council.
Residents and other customers offered positive feedback when staff provided clear responses and resolved queries without additional complications. Customers appreciated when their queries were acknowledged and kept informed about progress of their requests. However, some community representatives asked for better tracking systems for councillor response times and better cross-department and cross-organisation communication.
We’ve also seen some positive trends in our data to:
Community groups asked for better engagement with the Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS).
Our staff take pride in continuing to deliver vital services despite significant change and constant financial pressures. We must be agile and continue to test our approach to problems to improve as we go. Staff named over 30 achievements, including:
Ofsted rated our children’s services as Outstanding in March 2024, praising the consistent quality of work, and the positive difference this is making for children and families in the city. They noted just 2 areas for improvement around placements for children with complex needs and ensuring consent was consistently gained and recorded when referrals are received at the Front Foor for Families.
Harnessing the use of technology, especially Artificial Intelligence, offers opportunities to free up staff time and improve resident interactions. Senior leaders have prioritised strategic use of digital tools to support how we deliver a Better Brighton & Hove for all.
Community representatives said we have a strategy vs reality gap. While we have excellent strategies on paper (like our Anti-Racism and Accessible City strategies), the visible impact to communities is lacking. They requested public dashboards of Key Performance Indicator trackers to be available to track this.
Our data revealed:
Social housing remains a concern. A 2024 report from the Regulator of Social Housing called for significant improvements to the safety and quality of council homes. We are committed to providing safe, good quality homes and in response are investing in improvements to meet this expectation.
Building a dynamic workforce and leadership that truly reflects our diverse communities will embed our vision that everyone can learn and grow.
Feedback from our staff focus group, senior leadership and community voices called for continued work to tackle inequalities, including health disparities, especially as voluntary sector closures impact marginalised groups. They asked for better safety measures for vulnerable communities (Black residents, Jewish community, LGBTQ+ individuals). This will be a key part of our Community Cohesion work and a priority area for our senior leadership.
The Local Government Association (LGA) provided us with valuable feedback from their Corporate Peer Challenge visit in April 2025. Areas of strength identified included:
They recommended we:
Staff told us that supporting mental health and wellbeing is essential for a resilient workforce. They said that work to embed equality, diversity and inclusion was something that we should be proud of but must keep it an area of key focus.
They support ongoing efforts to transform workplace culture and asked for:
Senior leadership highlighted the need for a healthy city for all people. We are proud that Brighton & Hove is an active city – there were nearly 1.8 million visits to council indoor sports facilities last year.
We recently had an inspection of our adult social services by the Care Quality Commission. We will ensure that their recommendations are implemented as a future priority.