At a cabinet meeting members were told how the council was trying to rein in the forecast overspend by the end of the 2024-25 financial year next March.
The overspend relates to the council’s “general fund” which pays for essential council services.
But the council faces further financial pressure, with the “dedicated schools grant”, which comes from the government to fund “maintained schools”, falling short of budget predictions. The schools budget is currently expected to have a £1.4 million deficit.
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Some 34 schools have “licensed deficits” totalling £7.1 million, compared with an expected overspend of £6.6 million, resulting in more pressure on the council’s general fund.
And services provided jointly with the NHS are at risk of an overspend of about £1.2 million.
The demand for adult social care continues to increase, with more people receiving support on being discharged from hospital. Councillors were told that £10 million was being spent on the increased costs linked to complex care.
The council is trying to make savings totalling £23.6 million but a fifth of the planned total – about £4.6 million – is also potentially “at risk”.
The budget for temporary housing is forecast to overspend by £2.4 million, attributed to a 12 per cent increase in nightly accommodation costs since last year.
The deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor, who is also the cabinet member for finance, said that the council was moving in the right direction by increasing vacancy and spending controls to balance the budget.
The Labour councillor said: “Looking at the trajectory of previous years, we have every chance (of balancing the budget) if we remain focused.
“It is officers doing the work day to day on those financial management methods (so) that we should be able to come in on budget which is extremely important for this local authority.”
His cabinet colleague Emma Daniel offered hope for future savings, saying that the council was working to bring more children who need expensive specialist care and education back into Brighton and Hove.
One strand in the savings plan, she said, was to recommission Tudor House although this would not be achievable in the current financial year.
But at Drove Road, two young people were receiving full-time residential care in a placement that was helping the council to save £300,000 this year alone.
Councillor Daniel said: “What we had to do was go back to the drawing board. We listened to the families of those disabled children who are using Drove Road and Tudor House. We reconsidered what options are available.
“While our savings are going to be delayed until next year, they’re going to be bigger savings by doing that exercise and listening to people.”
