Brighton and Hove Council Forecasts Almost £20 Million Overspend and Seeks Government Support
Hove Town Hall, home of Brighton and Hove City Council (photo: Hassocks5489, CC0)
Brighton News
Brighton and Hove City Council is forecasting a potential overspend of almost £20 million this year, and is asking the government for up to £30 million in extra support, as the rising cost of social care continues to squeeze council budgets across the country.
The figures come from the council's latest Targeted Budget Management report, its regular check on how spending is tracking against budget. Presented to Cabinet in July, the report sets out both the pressures facing the council and the steps it is taking to manage them.
The headline figure is a forecast overspend risk of £19.882 million on the council's main General Fund for 2026/27. The report also flags a further £17.131 million of risks that sit outside that headline number, along with a £6.643 million overspend on the ring-fenced schools budget and a smaller £0.482 million overspend on the council's housing account.
The council says the pressure is driven largely by demand-led services, above all adult social care, where the number of people needing support has risen by 6 per cent and average care costs have gone up by 5 per cent. Children's social care is another major driver, with the cost of residential and foster placements running well over budget.
Targeted Budget Management Report 2026/27
The council's finances at a glance
£19.882m
Forecast overspend risk on the General Fund
£17.131m
Further risks on top of the headline figure
£30m
Government support requested (up to)
+6%
More people needing adult social care
+5%
Rise in average adult care costs
£6.643m
Overspend on the ring-fenced schools budget
Source: Brighton and Hove City Council Targeted Budget Management report, Month 2 (May), 2026/27. View the report
Asking government for support
To help balance the books, the council's Cabinet has approved a request to the government for up to £30 million in Exceptional Financial Support. In the council's own words this is a form of additional borrowing, repaid over time through capital receipts, to be drawn down only if needed. The council says it is necessary to protect frontline services while longer-term reforms to how councils are funded take effect.
Despite the pressures, the council says it is continuing to invest, pointing to new council homes, improvements to leisure facilities and plans for the seafront and wider regeneration. Its transformation and savings programmes, it says, are progressing well.
We refuse to manage decline. The opposite is true: we want to lead the renewal of our city and of local government itself
Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader
Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader and finance lead at Brighton and Hove City Council (photo: Brighton and Hove City Council)
Refusing to manage decline
Councillor Jacob Taylor, the council's Deputy Leader and finance lead, said local government finance remained challenging as demand for essential services kept growing, but that the council was continuing to deliver for residents and protect key services. He welcomed signs that the government understands the need to reform how councils are funded, while stressing that support is needed now.
Scrutiny over the figures
The position did not go unchallenged. At the Cabinet meeting, Green councillor Ollie Sykes criticised the way the figures were presented, arguing that a new one-page format no longer showed how the forecast compared with previous years. He questioned the need to seek a further £30 million in support on top of £15 million borrowed the year before, and called for greater cross-party working on the city's finances.
Councillor Taylor defended the new format, saying it was designed to bring the key pressures onto a single page and to identify risks early so the council could act before they became unmanageable. A full review of the council's finances will follow through the year as further budget reports are published.
The full report and the Cabinet's decision are available on the council's democracy pages, and a summary is on the council's news site.