Council peers praise Brighton and Hove's bin service turnaround but say its reserves are below recommended levels and homelessness costs are its biggest challenge.

Senior figures from other councils say Brighton & Hove City Council’s bin and recycling service has been turned around. But they also warn that its reserves are below recommended levels and that homelessness costs are its biggest problem. Their report was published on Wednesday (progress review final feedback report).

The council’s own announcement leads on “positive progress” (council announcement, 11 November). The full report is more mixed than that.

What the review is

The Local Government Association (LGA) runs peer challenges, in which experienced councillors and officers from elsewhere look at how a council is run. The report stresses they are “not inspections or audits”.

The LGA team first visited Brighton and Hove in April 2025 and made eight recommendations. It came back for a one-day progress review on Friday 20 March 2026. The team included the chief executive of Salford City Council, the leader of Plymouth City Council, and senior housing and finance officers from Enfield and Southwark councils.

The report has taken almost eight months to appear. The council says it is publishing it now because a refresh of the Council Plan goes to Cabinet in December.

What the peers praised

The report says the council “has taken the recommendations seriously and is responding with pace and intent”. In particular:

  • Bins and recycling. The peers call the turnaround in Environmental Services “one of the most notable areas of improvement” since 2025. They found better industrial relations, a more stable workforce and stronger management, and suggest it could be a model for the rest of the council.
  • Council housing. They found “strong and sustained progress” on governance, compliance with the housing regulator’s standards and work with tenants.
  • Money management. A new four-year Medium Term Financial Strategy is “a significant step forward”, and the forecast overspend had come down when the peers visited in March. It has risen again since. The latest forecast, going to Cabinet on Thursday 12 November, is a £26.4 million overspend for this year (our report).
  • The new Cabinet system. The switch from committees to a leader and Cabinet “has been well managed overall”.

What the peers warned about

The same report is blunt about the council’s finances:

  • it “faces a structural budget gap” and its reserves are “below recommended levels”
  • its reliance on Exceptional Financial Support from the government “further underlines the fragility of the current position”
  • homelessness and the cost of temporary accommodation “remain the most significant challenges facing the council”, with demand still rising and spending “increasing significantly”
  • it should carry out “a thorough and systematic review” of this year’s savings programme, to check every saving can actually be delivered in full

Exceptional Financial Support lets a council use borrowing to balance its budget. The council’s own finance report describes it as “additional borrowing, not additional funding”. The council has asked the government for more this year, “expected to be a sum of up to £30m”, and is still waiting for a decision.

The peers made three other points:

  • Job losses. The council wants to become a “learning organisation”, but the peers say job losses and that aim “can sometimes feel at odds”.
  • Opposition councillors. Some “feel that they are not fully included in the decision-making process”.
  • Neighbouring councils. Relationships across Sussex “remain variable”, and a shared plan for local government reorganisation “has yet to be realised”.

The report also notes that the council “may be subject to a housing inspection in 6 months”. It was written in March, so that points to around the autumn of 2026. The council has not said whether an inspection has been arranged.

What the council says

Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of the Council, said she was “proud of the progress we are making that has been recognised by the independent Peer Review”.

“We know there is still work to do and the learning from this review has been invaluable in shaping how we continue to improve,” she said.

The council says the findings will shape the Council Plan, the Medium Term Financial Strategy and its transformation programme.

What it means for you

The review does not change any service or charge on its own. What matters for residents is that the council’s reserves are thin. That leaves less room to absorb shocks, such as a jump in temporary accommodation costs, without cuts elsewhere or more borrowing. The December Cabinet meeting on the Council Plan, and the budget for 2027/28 that follows it, are where that will show.

Sources