Brighton & Hove Councillors Issue Warning After Autumn Statement

The safety net for some of the most vulnerable people in society is at risk of unravelling because government funding for councils is inadequate, according to senior councillors.

The Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, Bella Sankey, criticised the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement at a Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee meeting last Thursday (Dec 7).

Deputy leader Jacob Taylor warned colleagues about the government’s decision to scrap the “household support fund” in March. The money covers the cost of free school meal vouchers in the summer holidays and helps fund food banks.

He said:

“I call on the government to reconsider cutting that fund because it will have a massive impact on the people who most need that support.

“It will have a knock-on impact on this council and its services because when people in our city who most need help can no longer get that help, they will come to other services that the council provides so it will put further pressure on us.”

Councillor Taylor, who is working on the budget that is due to go before councillors in February, said that savings made so far this year were down to the council’s frontline workers.

A recruitment freeze and other spending controls have reduced the in-year budget forecast from an overspend of nearly £15 million to £2.8 million in the red.

The revised forecast comes as almost a fifth of councils in England said that they were currently considering issuing a “section 114 notice”, meaning that they cannot balance their books.

Brighton and Hove City Council has avoided the worst mistakes that have afflicted some of the worst-hit councils – despite the costly challenges posed by the i360’s troubled finances.

Councillor Taylor said that the council could not afford another overspend this year because cash reserves were now at their “lowest point” and next year’s budget would be “extremely difficult”.

He said:

"We wait to get the final settlement but it looks like there will be no further general funding.

“And that’s despite a continued inflationary environment generally in the economy but also further demand pressure on local authorities in areas like adults, children (social care) and temporary accommodation.

“The government has chosen not to provide any further funding. Presumably, you would hope in awareness of the position that local government is in, if the government could listen to their Conservative colleagues running county councils all over the country, hopefully they will hear of the dire position of local government finance.”

Councillor Taylor said that the council had not published its draft budget yet because it was still awaiting details of the financial settlement from the government.

Councillor Sankey said that there was “no wriggle room” after the council used £3 million from reserves to cover last year’s overspend, leaving the council in a “precarious position with minimal reserves”.

On the autumn statement the Labour leader said:

"I must today put on record our profound anger and disbelief at an autumn statement from a zombie government so out of touch with the ordinary people of this country that they are prepared to send local government over a financial cliff edge.

“To them, it’s to hell with those who rely on adult social care, homelessness support and the social safety net of services we provide here at Brighton and Hove City Council.”