Budget agreed for 2019/20

Top facts

• The Brighton & Hove City Council budget for 2019/20 has been set
• Councillors decided how to allocate more than £900million 
• The budget includes an increase of the council’s element of council tax of 2.99 per cent

Priorities

The Brighton & Hove City Council budget for 2019/20 has been set at Budget Council today (Thursday 28 February).

The council provides more than 700 services residents see or use every day. It currently costs just under £2.1 million to run our council services every day.

This budget has prioritised: 

• Children’s Services: A total of £54million, including £46.2m for children’s social care 
• Adult Social Care including Learning Disability Services: A total of £92.6million
• Field Officer Service, providing help across the city: A total of £312,000
• Homelessness and rough sleeping services: A total of £10.6million for these services, including £250,000 for an all year round night shelter for rough sleepers and £250,000 to expand options to support people in emergency and temporary accommodation
• Cityclean refuse and recycling: A total of £27.7million, with more than £1 million allocated for specific support within the service in the year ahead 

Cllr Dan Yates, leader of the council, said: “This is a difficult time for local government in the face of ongoing cuts from central government. Since 2010 more than £100 million has been removed from the core government grants for our council. 

“We knew when we took administration of the council that there were tough times ahead. Over the last four years we’ve taken the difficult decisions required to make sure we have protected services for the most vulnerable in the city. It’s an ongoing challenge to meet increasing demand for services as costs rise and funding falls.

“This is a time to look forwards to the future and continue with the vital work of protecting services for all residents.”

Amendments

While there is much debate about amendments to the main budget, the proposed permanent budget amendments combined amounted to just 0.2% of the Gross General Fund budget (£1.451m out of a total £761.647m).

On the night, following debate and an adjournment, the amendments were revised. New versions were put forward for councillors to vote on. These revised versions passed with Labour Group and Green Group support.  The budget as amended was then put to the vote and passed. 

Council tax

In common with many local authorities, the budget includes an increase of council tax of 2.99%, largely in light of the increasing demand for social care and reducing grants. 

This means the average Band D Council Tax contribution to the council would rise by £46.38 to £1,595.45 in 2019/20.

Note: We only set our share of the council tax. The full amount for the average Band D Council tax for 2019/20 will be £1,879.03 (a rise of £73.05 from the year before). This includes £189.91 for the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner and £ 93.67 for the East Sussex Fire Authority.

Find out more on our budget web page

Additional information

• The council’s gross revenue budget, which covers council services, is more than £760million
• The capital programme budget of more than £160million includes investment in housing, regeneration, schools and highways and transport