Annual Governance Statement 2025 to 2026

We at Brighton & Hove City Council are committed to effectively and efficiently deliver outcomes in our Council Plan to make a better Brighton & Hove for all.

The Annual Governance Statement provides an accurate account of the governance arrangements within our organisation. It seeks to provide assurance on the effectiveness of these arrangements and identifies areas of improvement going forward. 

This statement is formally approved by the council’s Audit, Standards and General Purposes Committee each year. 

In 2025 to 2026, we made significant progress in strengthening our governance arrangements, refreshing our Council Plan, developing our Medium-Term Financial Strategy and our Transformation and Innovation Portfolio and continuing to operationalise our Learning Framework. In the context of a constantly changing external environment, more demand for council services and less resource to provide them, we are committed to ensuring best value for our residents. 

It is our opinion that the governance arrangements in 2025 to 2026 were sound and effectively identified areas where we are doing well and areas of improvement. The details of priority areas of focus are included in this document. We are committed to delivering the actions identified and will monitor their implementation and report progress to Cabinet and in the next Annual Governance Statement. 

Councillor Bella Sankey

Date: 24 June 2026

Jess Gibbons, Chief Executive

Date: 24 June 2026

Good governance is key to ensuring the council does the right things in the right way for the right people.

There is a statutory requirement for the council to conduct a review of its system of internal control against our Local Code of Corporate Governance and the 7 principles of good governance and to publish an Annual Governance Statement (AGS) at least once every financial year. 

The AGS sets out to demonstrate that there is a sound system of governance and outline our progress in 2025 to 2026 and help us take further actions to improve governance for delivery in 2026 to 2027.

The focus of the AGS is on assessing our governance arrangements, to identify areas of strength and significant weaknesses in internal controls rather than assessing our performance.

It creates a culture based on openness, inclusivity and honesty.

It ensures ongoing continuous improvement to further strengthen the way the council operates.

It demonstrates effective leadership, including accountability and transparency in actions and decisions.

It puts the arrangements in place to ensure that in the right way for the right people the intended outcomes for stakeholders are defined and achieved.

It ensures robust systems and processes are established and followed.

It keeps the council’s focus on the needs of service users and the public, ensuring public money is safeguarded, accounted for and used efficiently and effectively.

Good governance at Brighton & Hove City Council underpins our ambition to be a learning organisation by providing clear leadership, accountability and assurance while encouraging openness, reflection and continuous improvement. 

Strong governance arrangements create a safe and transparent environment in which challenge is welcomed, decisions are evidence-based, and lessons from experience are actively considered and acted upon. 

By setting clear expectations, roles and ethical standards, good governance supports informed risk-taking and innovation, ensuring that new ideas and approaches are explored responsibly and in the public interest. 

Effective scrutiny, audit and member - officer collaboration help to turn insight into improvement, embedding learning at both strategic and operational levels. In this way, good governance not only strengthens trust and decision-making, but actively enables a culture of learning, adaptation and innovation that improves outcomes for residents.

Our learning framework

Be connected

Ensures clear accountability and decision-making structures, bringing services together to drive delivery of our Council Plan.

Be confident

Provides the framework for oversight, giving services the assurance to experiment, learn from mistakes and act decisively. 

Be innovative and creative

Establishes the ethical and strategic boundaries that allow innovation to flourish responsibly, ensuring decisions are aligned with organisational values.

Be diverse and inclusive

Embeds equality and diversity into principles and leadership practices, creating a culture where representation and inclusion are actively monitored and promoted.

Be healthy and psychologically safe

Establishes the standards for wellbeing and safety, ensuring policies and resources are in place to foster trust, resilience and supportive work environment for staff. 

The CIPFA/IFAC Principles of Good Governance provide a recognised framework for how public sector organisations should lead, direct and control their activities to achieve intended outcomes while acting in the public interest. 

The 7 principles set out what good governance looks like in practice, covering leadership, accountability, integrity, openness and strong performance management. 

Together, they support effective decision-making, transparency and continuous improvement, helping organisations balance innovation and risk while maintaining public trust. 

For Brighton & Hove City Council, the principles offer a shared foundation for strong governance that enables learning, supports improvement and underpins the delivery of high-quality services for residents

The 7 principles of good governance are:

• behaving with integrity, demonstrating strong commitment to ethical values, and respecting the rule of law
• ensuring openness and comprehensive stakeholder engagement
• defining outcomes in terms of sustainable economic, social, and environmental benefits
• determining the interventions necessary to optimise the achievement of the intended outcomes
• developing the entity's capacity, including the capacity of its leadership and with individuals within it
• managing risks and performance through robust internal control and strong public financial management
• implementing good practices in transparency, reporting and audit to deliver effective accountability

1. DLTs review effectiveness of internal controls.
2. DLTs suggest actions to strengthen governance.
3. Feedback from DLTs is collated to provide overview of governance review.
4. Corporate Performance & Risk Team assesses governance related data.
5. Draft AGS is created.
6. Assessment and proposed actions are reviewed by CLT.
7. CLT approve Draft AGS.
8. Draft AGS is reviewed by Lead Cabinet member.
9. Draft AGS is reviewed by Leader of the Council.
10. Draft AGS is approved at Audit, Standards and General Purposes Committee.
11. Chief Executive and Leader of the Council sign the AGS.
12. The AGS is published on the council website.

The AGS is informed by a wide range of evidence that provides assurance on the effectiveness of the council’s governance, risk management, and internal control arrangements. This includes the operation of the council’s decision-making and ethical frameworks, corporate and service risk management, financial management and performance reporting, and the outcomes of internal and external assurance activity. 

The AGS also draws on the work of senior officers, the Audit, Standards and General Purposes Committee, internal and external audit, and other inspection and regulatory bodies, ensuring that significant governance issues are identified, assessed, and transparently reported alongside actions for improvement.

• Finance management reports including statement of accounts
• Key performance indicators 
• Corporate Leadership Plan
• Internal audit reports including follow up audits 
• Strategic and Directorate risk registers 
• External auditor report
• External inspection outcomes
• Customer insights including member complaints and any Ombudsman reports
• Our people data
• Health, safety and wellbeing data 
• Programme and project data 
• Member reports and input

Key actions delivered in 2025 to 2026 to strengthen governance:

• Operationalising our Learning Framework
• Refreshed Council Plan and Corporate Leadership Plan
• Developed Medium Term Financial Strategy
• Refreshed our Code of Corporate Governance and Risk Management Framework
• Developed Transformation and Innovation Portfolio of strategic programmes
• Implemented LGA Corporate Peer Challenge recommendations
• Developed Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy
• Enhanced use of data for better oversight and compliance
• Developed core principles to guide our Industrial Relations Strategy

Our review of governance arrangements in 2025 to 26 identified 2 broad outcomes where further improvements are needed. Delivery of the actions to achieve these outcomes, as outlined below, will contribute to achieving our mission of a responsive and learning council with well-run services. These will be included in our refreshed Corporate Leadership Plan and will be owned and driven by the Corporate Leadership Team.

A financially sustainable and resilient council

Key deliverables linked to this outcome:

1. Continue focus on strong financial management across the organisation, including effective prioritisation and tighter monitoring of budgets, identification of mitigations and recovery plans where pressures exist.

2. Ensure Transformation and Innovation strategic programmes are delivered to drive delivery of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

3. Deliver a programme of asset release to achieve capital receipts and revenue savings to unlock land for regeneration, housing and investment in transformation. 

4. Strengthen governance of capital programmes to ensure alignment with council priorities, and in consideration of the council's financial position.

5. Implement actions to improve key financial systems and processes including actions agreed with internal audit (pension/payroll, housing rent, housing benefits, Council Tax).

6. Improve procurement and contract management compliance and oversight across the organisation.

Becoming a learning organisation by embedding our ways of working

Key deliverables linked to this outcome:

1. Continue to embed the council’s Learning Framework across the organisation to strengthen delivery of the Council Plan.

2. Strengthen governance arrangements for the Digital Innovation and Technology strategic programme to enable robust prioritisation. 

3. Embed governance arrangements for Health and Safety to improve organisational resilience and compliance.

4. Improve consistency in the quality and use of data to manage the quality and safety of our housing stock, operational premises and commercial portfolio.

5. Deliver the Adult Social Care Improvement Plan to improve prevention and early intervention. This also responds to the feedback received from the Care Quality Commission inspection feedback. 

6. Risk owners to ensure clearly defined, documented and actively managed risk tolerance levels aligned to council’s risk appetite as outlined in the Risk Management Framework

Our review of governance arrangements in 2024 to 2025 identified 2 broad outcomes where further improvements are needed. Delivery of the actions to achieve these outcomes, as outlined below, was monitored through the Corporate Leadership Plan and owned and driven by the Corporate Leadership Team.

Corporate Leadership Plan Actions

Invest in building and fire safety to meet duties under the Building Safety Act and new Fire Safety (England) Regulations and ensure we are compliant with Health and Safety.

Status: Green

Commentary

The council has made substantial progress in housing safety and compliance since receiving a C3 rating from the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) and is continuing its transition from recovery to a phase of consolidation and ongoing improvement, delivering significant progress in all compliance areas. 

We have tackled the most urgent safety actions, reinforced leadership and governance, and enhanced the reliability of our data, thereby restoring trust in the safety and quality of council homes. These positive changes are now firmly established in our day-to-day operations, ensuring continued improvement and accountability. Actions are now at a lower level, and all high and medium actions (backlog) are dealt with, the team are now operating at BAU for the new FRAs from 6 April.

Residents are benefitting from clearer communication, quicker responses to safety concerns, and a greater presence of safety works in their homes and communal areas. 

Governance is more robust, supported by the Housing Safety and Quality Assurance Board and expert appointments in fire and water safety. 

Furthermore, we have improved oversight of delivery and financial risks, with regular monitoring and reporting to ensure sustained progress and resilience.

Deliver the Adult Social Care Improvement Plan meeting regulation standards and service redesign outcomes.

Status: Green

Commentary 

Regulatory improvement plan progress

A DHSC advisor has been appointed to oversee and work with the leadership team in delivering the adult social care improvement plan and the elements of this which relate to the Section 50 notice issued by the DHSC.

The improvement plan is overseen through the ASC Performance and Improvement Board at which regular progress updates are provided with a focus on reablement transformation priorities, waiting list management and residential admissions. A new 'Waiting Well Framework' has been developed to strengthen assurance for adults awaiting care and support in the city. This framework sets out clear and consistent standards and actions to address challenges associated with adult social care waiting lists, ensuring people receive timely information, support, and risk management while they wait. The framework will go live on 13th April 2026.

Performance targets

As of April 2026, we remain on a positive trajectory toward achieving our target of 72% of adults receiving community-based support, as a proportion of all adults accessing long-term services. Current performance stands at 71.98%, marginally below the target, with steady improvement continuing month on month.

For the percentage of long term services reviewed within the rolling year, performance is also trending upward and on track to meet the target of 45%. We have seen continuing further improvement following the establishment of a dedicated review team, which is now operational and focused on increasing review activity.

The rate of permanent admissions to residential or nursing care for older adults (aged over 65) currently stands at 527 per 100,000 population, which is within the target of 660. This reflects stable performance in a challenging area.

Long term admissions for younger adults (under 65) remain a priority area requiring sustained focus. To strengthen our understanding of the underlying factors, we have participated in a sector led learning programme and are awaiting the final report to inform next steps. In parallel, proposals to enhance the authorisation process for residential and nursing care placements were agreed at the March Performance and Improvement Board. These changes aim to ensure that decisions involving moves to residential or nursing care are timely, consistent, compliant with the Care Act, and clearly demonstrate that community based alternatives have been thoroughly explored. This strengthened approach is expected to improve the quality of decision making, reduce drift into short term placements, and increase assurance in line with CQC improvement priorities.

Service redesign

The redesign of Assessment Services is now complete, with all relevant staff appointed to their new roles. The revised structure strengthens leadership capacity and provides a solid foundation for the 2026 to 2027 service plans, ensuring a sustained focus on assurance and continuous improvement in line with the department’s improvement plan. A new leadership development programme for operational leads is also in development. This programme will build capability in key areas including practice leadership, people management, quality and performance, strategic partnership working, and leading change. Anticipated delivery is for Q1–Q2 2026.

Develop and implement a transformation and innovation approach and portfolio to ensure focus remains on delivery of the Council Plan and Medium-Term Financial Strategy, and embedding learning organisation

Status: Amber

Commentary

The indicator is amber due to the corporate savings target of £15.789m being £5.42m (34pct) at risk at TBM10. A factor impacting the ability to deliver savings is a lack of organisational capacity to drive change.

A Transformation and Innovation portfolio containing ten strategic programmes has been agreed by the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and implemented to help meet ongoing budget challenges and the need for continuous improvement. The strategic programmes havedeveloped proposals, savings targets, investment requirements and delivery plans in line with the budget timetable.

The Savings and Innovation Delivery Board is meeting fortnightly to drive delivery of the council’s budget savings and associated Transformation and Innovation proposals.

CLT is holding five weekly Innovation themed meetings to oversee progress and conduct.

Work is in progress to develop a Transformation and Innovation Zone on the Wave, which will include a new Agile Toolkit. This will include guidance for document retention and ownership of commissioned work including reports. Once this work is completed, a briefing will be made available to senior managers to ensure consistency of approach.

Operationalising our Learning Framework and working smarter with more integrated services, systems and processes

Status: Green

Commentary

The Learning Framework continues to be actively applied throughout the organisation, shaping our approach as we innovate frontline service delivery.

The Learning Framework remains front and centre in transformative multi-agency initiatives such as Families First and Best Start and is leveraged through our Transformation and Innovation Strategic Programmes.

There is increasing confidence and fluency in utilising the Learning Framework in over 40 change programmes now underway, and as the basis for design and development of change programmes, services, projects, and business cases at all levels – from frontline to the most senior leaders.

Initiatives to connect our organisation, staff and Members in new ways to our shared goals continues through events such as Spotlight on Poverty.

In-person ‘In Conversation With’ events are extending reach beyond the digital engagement space to frontline staff, improving psychological safety and organisational connection, and work to digitally include all staff continues.

Refresh of the Individual Performance Management framework is nearing completion and design and build of the new, in-house bi-annual Staff Survey continues at pace, closely aligned to our Learning Framework and enabling benchmarking to LGA and other public sector organisations.

Collectively, these developments highlight significant progress on our learning journey, shifting organisational culture, improving data-driven decision making, and strengthening foundations. While the balance between autonomy and coordination remains a challenge, the direction is clear, and our commitment to continuous improvement is evident.

Align the priorities and actions of the Digital, Data and Technology portfolio to support the delivery of the council plan priorities and support in the transformation of service delivery

Status: Green

Commentary

The two of this work are progressing well:

• The Turbocharging Innovation programme, after approval from CLT and funding approved via Cabinet, is now being configured into a four year programme of delivery that will deliver service transformation and support the Council's priorities - this programme is being regularly monitored by CLT, with the funding monitored by the Savings and Innovation Delivery Board 
• Following the conclusion of the Orbis Review, BHCC has elected to create a sovereign IT service that can better deliver our priorities - appropriate skills have been identified to deliver the systems and tools needed to meet our priorities, and funding has been built into our budget. CLT have now agreed a high-level management team structure that is matched to the needs of the council plan and our priorities. Hiring of new required skills, and the transition to an improved structure will take place over the next quarter, with CLT being consulted on outcomes.

Embed the new health and safety oversight arrangements to monitor compliance and drive improvements of health, safety and wellbeing performance and practice across the council

Status: Amber

Commentary

Corporate HSW policy was approved by full cabinet and came into effect in October 2025. It was communicated to all staff via the Wave and various channels progressing a communication plan. Communication will continue and awareness will continuously be raised as part of business as usual. 

The policy set a new governance and assurance framework which is being implemented, and all directorates have now either planned or initiated. Central corporate reporting has been reviewed and is evolving in relation to data insights and standardised approach reporting enabling benchmarking and fostering a learning framework approach. This assurance reporting now also includes statutory compliance, while it is in its infancy compliance understanding continues to grow and centralised reporting is growing and will continue to grow further increasing the robustness of the council risk position. Following the launch of the new refreshed policy a programme has been established to review arrangements ensuring suitability and effectiveness along with service delivery models.

A service redesign has been launched to readjust the service to better support a positive health and safety culture. It is anticipated the redesign will conclude in May 2026.

Maintain the Contract Management Framework, including changes required by new procurement regulations, compliance with standing orders and implement improved oversight over contract management across the council

Status: Green

Commentary

The updated Contract Management Framework and Contract Management Playbook have been launched this quarter with regular reference to and raising the awareness of planned for the coming quarter.

The Contract Management Peer Network continues to meet monthly and has provided a very good platform for an engaged group of colleagues to discuss contract management and give feedback on the plans of the CCA teams future activities and actions. We are looking to increase the network to include colleagues from all services, so we have a voice for contract management across the organisation.

Updates on the progress of delivering the full programme of contact management improvement objectives are:

• developing a Contract Management Policy - drafted a Policy which is with colleagues for review and comment, before review by management teams
• ensuring compliance with the Procurement Act 2023 - we have engaged with in-scope procurement projects
• monitoring and reporting on contract performance for all £1 million plus contracts - relevant contracts identified and communications planned for this quarter
• providing Contract Management proficiency assessments and targeted training - calendar of targeted training has been drafted and to be published and carried out
• maintaining the Contract Management Resource platform (circa 60 tools, templates, training and guidance) - the resources platform is now hosted on BHCC IT infrastructure and has been promoted to the contract management network and community
• providing a turnaround service for contracts in distress and requiring support - we are recieving and acting on requests for support from services, and actively engaging with colleagues to bring awareness of the resources, support and training the CCA can offer teams

Develop the Medium Term Financial Strategy, capital programme and transformation programme to enable the council to deliver on its priorities and address its longer-term financial pressures in a structured way

Status: Red

Commentary 

The current MTFS is a strong route map through the current difficulties but is predicated on 100% achievement of all savings andtransformation targets outlined within it, some of which, quite reasonably due to the time since they were agreed and the deadline for savings delivery, have not yet had plans finalised. 

This means that strong focus has to be given to the savings and transformation work to ensure that as much as possible of the current plans are delivered and any shortfalls are quickly recognised and supplemented with new plans. There is already an expectation that demand pressures will cause issues in the 2026/27 budget performance so these will also require additional mitigations. The MTFS is a strong plan which now has to be adhered to and delivered and that in itself will required significant focus and resource.

The budget and MTFS were approved in February by Cabinet and by full budget Council. There is increased communication around the MTFS and the work required not only of corporate leadership but of all staff to deliver it with sessions at SLN and "in conversation" with all staff to provide clarity and understanding on the actions required. 

Optimise the use of council assets through generating capital receipts, increasing income, and delivering efficiencies

Status: Amber

Commentary

The recruitment for 2 additional disposal surveyors was unsuccessful and is going back out to advert. Additional posts are being requested to boost the resource available (currently 1.5 FTE) to support disposals. The April 23 Cabinet report has been released.

The procurement of the consultant to complete the Operational Portfolio Review has completed and Savills have been appointed. The contract has been mobilised. Nine further transfers completed with a total gross receipt of nearly £6.0m.

Deliver a programme of work to improve core finance and HR systems

Status: Amber

Commentary

The overall programme is slightly behind schedule due to the need to recruit specialist resource. The improvements have been group and prioritised for delivery. A draft delivery plan has been produced. The required specialist resources have been identified to assist with the above. A recruitment exercise is underway for the specialist resources above.The following workstreams are completed:

Finance Systems (Civica) Improvements:

• Civica Financials ADDACS (Automated Direct Debit 
• Amendment and Cancellation Service) Process Review.

HR and Payroll System (MHR iTrent/Pier):

• Recruitment Module Implementation
• Decommission of TribePad Recruitment Platform

Multi-System (Civica, MHR iTrent, Procurement) Improvements:

• Adult Social Care (ASC) Return Improvement Project 2025.

The following workstreams are in flight.

Finance Systems (Civica) Improvements:

• Civica Financials Reporting Review
• TBM (Target Budget Management) Improvements
• Civica Financials Data Archiving and Cleansing
• Civica Financials V25.2 Implementation

HR and Payroll System (MHR iTrent/Pier) Improvements:

• Schools Time and Expenses Service Implementation (Schools Self Service)
• DataMart Module (People Analytics) Implementation
• Manager Self Service - Staff Amendment and Leaver Process.

Multi-System (Civica, MHR iTrent, Procurement) Improvements:

• Off-Payroll Payments (IR35)
• Adult Social Care (ASC) Return Improvement Project 2026

Implement internal audit actions to improve key financial systems and processes (including pension/payroll, housing rent, housing benefits, council tax) with a view to address partial assurance 

Status: Green

Commentary

At the beginning of 2025 to 2026, there were 6 (known) high priority audit actions.

Of these 6, the 

• Accounts Payable high priority action has been implemented
• two Debtors high priority actions have been implemented
• Payroll high priority action has been implemented, and further work will take place through the work improve core HR systems
• The Off Payroll Payments high priority action has been partially implemented, with the Director of People and Innovation now providing corporate oversight
• Retrospective Purchase Order high priority action has been partially implemented

Based on the internal audit work completed, the Chief Internal Auditor can provide:

Partial Assurance*

that Brighton & Hove City Council has in place an adequate and effective framework of governance, risk management and internal control for the period of 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026

Chief Internal Auditor, Mark Winton Audit Manager, Carolyn Sheeha

* Assurance can never be absolute. In this context ‘partial assurance’ means there are weaknesses in the system of control and/or the level of non-compliance is such as to put the achievement of some organisational objectives at risk.

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Go to the PDF version to view Appendix 3.