Council

Agenda Item 73   

Subject:                    Supporting Unison’s Bring It Back Campaign

Date of meeting:    30 January 2025

Proposer:                 Cllr Evans

Seconder:                Cllr Burden

Ward(s) affected:   All

Notice of Motion

Labour Group Amendment

That deletions are made as shown with strikethrough below and additional recommendations are added as shown in bold italics below:

This council notes:

1) Unison’s #Bringitback campaign which highlights that over 14 years the previous government took £110 million from Brighton & Hove City Council through austerity measures.

2) That local government services continue to be squeezed by rising costs and demand, and that funding streams have not kept pace to the background of inadequate funding from central government.

3) Concerns raised by Unison about the impact of our Council’s organisation redesign on staff morale and service provision.

4) Reports that the Government is considering further cuts than those already planned to public services in response to rising borrowing costs. The significant increases in spending on public services in the recent budget, including in vestment in local government.

5) The importance of the council’s organisational redesign, and current spending controls, as measures to put the council on a more sustainable financial footing – allowing the authority to deliver the Council Plan

Concerns with the effects of the hiring freeze, overtime ban and temporary stop to using agency workers.

Therefore, resolves to:

1) Give its support as a Council to Unison’s #Bringitback Campaign. Continue fighting for the best funding deal for local government and residents in Brighton & Hove.

2) Ensure that staff are made aware of the opportunities open to them to join a Union.

3) Welcome the recent increases in funding to local government, and the significant reduction in the budget gap faced by this authority for 2025/26.

4) Continue to make the case for sustainable long-term funding for local government in the upcoming spending review. Ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to call for her to reverse cuts to local councils by the last government.

4) Request the Administration to bring a report to Cabinet to look at the effects of the recent staff redesign and the effects it has had on staff and service provision.

5) Welcome the reintroduction of public engagement in the budget setting process this year, including an online budget simulator, and to encourage further such activities in future budget years. Request the Administration to consider additional methods for the involvement of the public in the 2025-2026 budget setting process.

Recommendations to read if carried:

This council notes:

1) Unison’s #Bringitback campaign which highlights that over 14 years the previous government took £110 million from Brighton & Hove City Council through austerity measures.

2) That local government services continue to be squeezed by rising costs and demand, and that funding streams have not kept pace.

3) The significant increases in spending on public services in the recent budget, including investment in local government.

4) The importance of the council’s organisational redesign, and current spending controls, as measures to put the council on a more sustainable financial footing – allowing the authority to deliver on the Council Plan. 

Therefore, resolves to:

1) Continue fighting for the best funding deal for local government and residents in Brighton & Hove.

2) Ensure that staff are made aware of the opportunities open to them to join a Union

3) Welcome the recent increases in funding to local government, and the significant reduction in the budget gap faced by this authority for 2025/26.

4) Continue to make the case for sustainable long-term funding for local government in the upcoming spending review.

4) Welcome the reintroduction of public engagement in the budget setting process this year, including an online budget simulator, and to encourage further such activities in future budget years.