Brighton & Hove City Council set to break even after overspend concerns

Brighton & Hove City Council said it was currently looking at a £21,000 overspend rather than the £15m previously forecast

A council is set to "virtually break even" by the end of the financial year, despite earlier concerns about overspend on its budget.

Budget papers due before a Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) meeting later this week forecast a £21,000 overspend this financial year.

The figure is down from a predicted £15m overspend forecast last summer.

Jacob Taylor, deputy leader of BHCC, said the authority's financial situation was "not by luck".

"That was done because very early on in our administration we put in place spending controls, recruitment controls [and] we got hold of agency spend across the organisation," he said.

Mr Taylor added that the authority had managed the situation "tightly" with underspending still possible in some areas, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said BHCC was one of few local authorities not facing effective bankruptcy.

However, in September the authority announced it would need to make cuts of about £70m in order to avoid bankruptcy.

Part of the financial difficulties have been blamed on the knock on impact of an overspend of £3.5m in the 2022-23 budget.

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