3.1: Supporting a fair and inclusive economy
Our forthcoming 2024 to 2027 Economic Strategy will set out our strategic approach to enabling fairer and more inclusive growth, alongside our City Plan.
They will set the planning framework for new housing, employment, regeneration and opportunities across the built environment.
Case study: Ending in-work Poverty
The Brighton & Hove Living Wage campaign was started in 2012, led by the Brighton Chamber with support from the city council and Unison. The Living Wage campaign encourages local businesses to voluntarily pay all employees the real Living Wage - currently £12 per hour.
The Living Wage is set independently by the Resolution Foundation and is reviewed annually. It is based on the amount a person needs to live a reasonable standard of life.
To date, more than 900 city employers have signed-up to the Living Wage, raising the salaries of more than 4,500 individuals.
As well as being beneficial to employees, the Living Wage provides benefits to employers, including easier recruitment and better retention, enhanced staff morale, productivity and reputational benefits.
The evidence shows that, for those who can work, supporting people to gain the skills and capabilities to find a job and progress once in work is the most effective route out of poverty.
During 2024 we will continue to:
- support residents into good quality work
- enable in-work progression,
- support access to training and apprenticeship opportunities
- integrate our support with help to address wider health and disability challenges
This is set out in our forthcoming 2024 City Employment and Skills Plan. The plan will include how we are preparing communities for our future economy and supporting residents to access digital skills.
Case study: Youth Employment Hub
Following a successful bid for government funding, a Youth Employment Hub was created in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions to get the city’s young people into good quality work.
The Hub provides a no wrong door approach, triaging relevant support and addressing intersectional barriers facing the city’s young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Partners work together to provide wraparound support across health, welfare, housing and wider social issues alongside skills, employability training and mentoring.
The physical hub in Kemptown can be accessed as a drop in 5 days a week, alongside a virtual support offer.
To date the Youth Employment Hub have supported more than 1,500 young people. 500 of them have secured employment, 115 have moved on to an apprenticeship or traineeship, and 450 gained a positive outcome of an employer engagement or AQA Education Unit Awards.
Most (99.7%) of the city’s businesses are small, medium and micro firms - and there's around 16,000 of them (Table 1 of the 2023 UK business: activity, size and location - Office for National Statistics Excel spreadsheet)
We understand the pressures facing these small businesses. We will tailor our support, which ranges from providing free business support and affordable workspace, to flexible lettings policies for vacant property and relieving fees and charges (such as waiving fines for small businesses whose premises get graffitied).
As a member of the Greater Brighton Economic Board, along with six other local authorities (Adur, Arun, Crawley, Lewes, Mid Sussex and Worthing) we have been collaborating across key lobbying areas including:
- sending letters to Government to demand adequate support measures, particularly to assist small businesses with the spiralling costs of energy
- supporting the #BusinessSOS campaign, founded by Business Improvement Districts representing over 150,000 retail, leisure, hospitality and tourism businesses, calling on Government to support businesses by making interventions including reducing VAT, granting business rate relief and granting energy relief
- commissioning the Institute of Employment Studies to conduct an impact analysis of the cost of living crisis on the city region’s residents and businesses
- commissioning an Economic Dashboard for the regional economy to track economic performance statistics and trends.
We will continue to leverage the purchasing power of the council through using public procurement to support smaller firms, charities and social enterprises and generate social value from contracts to secure wider community benefits.
This will be set out in our forthcoming 2024 Social Value Toolkit.
Key Actions
Key actions in 2024 include: