Budget agreed for 2021-2022

Top facts

  • The annual council budget covers everything we do as a council and sets out how services are funded for residents in the year ahead
  • The budget for 2021/2022 was debated and decided by all councillors on Thursday 25 February.
  • The proposed Capital Investment Programme for 2021/22 is over £221 million and over £70 million for additional and better housing
  • The budget includes a 1.99% Council Tax increase to meet these pressures and an additional 3% precept ring-fenced to respond to the increasing costs of adult social care.
  • Council tax currently provides less than £1 in every £5 of what we spend on running services in our city.

Priorities for the city

The Brighton & Hove City Council budget for 2021/2022 has been set at Budget Council today (Thursday 25 February).

The proposed Capital Investment Programme for 2021/22 is over £227 million, including over £45 million new investment for additional and better housing, bringing total housing investments to over £70 million next year. 

At Budget Council, all groups supported an amendment to provide an additional £6.4 million capital investment to add to the seafront infrastructure and heritage capital investments already in the budget as well as provide further support for Climate Change action and improve open spaces and sports facilities.

The budget also outlines a savings programme of £10.644m to contribute to meeting increased costs. For example, Adult Social Care costs alone will increase by nearly £16 million.

The budget supports the priorities for the city outlined in the council’s Corporate Plan 2020 to 2023 and help with the city’s recovery and renewal from the pandemic for a fairer, healthier and more sustainable city. 

The budget spending priorities include:

A city to call home 

Investing in new housing and homelessness prevention including increased funding for temporary and emergency accommodation. 

A city working for all 

Continuing support for the city’s recovery and renewal as it comes out of the pandemic while also providing funding for supporting the recovery of the arts and culture sector and investment into community wealth building. 

A sustainable city 

The budget includes over £20 million capital and revenue support for sustainability and carbon reduction.

This includes £1.4million to support the city’s Climate Assembly action plan and creates a £200,000 Carbon Reduction Reserve to provide for and advance initiatives to support the aim of a carbon neutral city by 2030, improving the sustainability and biodiversity of the city, as well as the health and wellbeing of its residents through promoting active travel, investing in green spaces and tree planting, and improving air quality, for example, through the School Streets and Low Traffic Neighbourhood initiatives.

A stronger city 

Supporting graffiti removal and community clean ups, as well as rubbish removal from the A27 to support a better environment and attract people to the city, including supporting our Arts Sector Recovery plan and beginning restoration of Madeira Terraces. 

A growing and learning city

Investment in youth centre services and youth engagement. The budget also includes investments to continue to tackle inequality and disadvantage including responding to disadvantage among young people, BAME initiatives and race education.

A healthy and caring city 

Investing in adults and children’s social care services to help vulnerable people and to meet ever growing demands which have been rising for many years and have increased even further during the pandemic. This includes additional provision for supporting victims of domestic violence and abuse.

“A budget of hope for a fairer, healthier and more sustainable city”

Council Leader, Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, said: “All of us have   shared experience of living and working through an unprecedented global pandemic.

“The council has been at the front line in responding to the ongoing pandemic, which has hit public finances hard through additional costs and loss of income and revenues. 

“As well as responding to the long-term impact of Covid-19 the council also needs to support the city through the continuing housing crisis and the climate and biodiversity emergency. All of this comes against a backdrop of more than a decade of government funding reductions.

“We know that the pandemic has also hit many incomes hard. This is why we are reducing the burden of Council Tax on those with low incomes.

"The Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTR) will see discounts increased from 80% to 82% for the poorest households in our city – meaning that for those on the lowest incomes, bills will reduce. This in turn entitles residents to other general help or discounts. 

“I’m really pleased that councillors were able to agree a budget and work together on the composite amendment that put the interests of our residents, visitors and businesses first.

“While this is a budget set in a crisis, this is a budget of hope for a fairer, healthier and more sustainable city.

“It will enable the council to be active in responding to the challenges we face today and invest in the future of our city.”

Council Tax

The budget includes a 1.99% Council Tax increase to meet these pressures and an additional 3% precept ring-fenced to respond to the increasing costs of Adult Social Care.

Council Tax accounts for less than one fifth of overall council spending with the rest coming from grants, business rates, fees, charges, commercial rents and other income streams.

This would mean the average Band D Council Tax contribution to the council would rise by £82.77 to £1,741.88 in 2021/22.

The full amount for the average Band D Council tax for 2021/22 will be £2,054.22 (a rise of £99.67 from the year before). This includes £214.91 for the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner and £97.43 for the East Sussex Fire Authority.

Behind the budget