Recognising and celebrating achievements in Adult Social Care

Today we published our Adult Social Care & Wellbeing annual report, which outlines the performance of Health and Adult Social Care in Brighton & Hove. 

The report demonstrates our commitment to deliver positive health and wellbeing outcomes in Brighton & Hove.

Between April 2024 and March 2025:

• 5,328 people received a long-term Adult Social Care service
• 4,576 care assessments or reviews took place
• More than 3,900 local people were supported by the Healthy Lifestyles team
• 2,800 people engaged with drug or alcohol treatments
• 14,511 older people were supported to access advice or activities

For more information, read the Adult Social Care & Wellbeing annual report 2024-25 in full.

Flexible integrated care and support 

We have worked collaboratively with key partners across the city to provide a range of care and support, tailored to meet people’s needs, by: 

• Reducing waiting time to access Adult Social Care from 7 months to 6 weeks
• Extending provision for older people with care needs
• Creating more supported living services for people with mental health needs, helping them to be more independent
• Providing care, support and advice to people being discharged from hospital and helping people remain at home through our Disabled Facilities Grants homes adaptation service
• Extending funding for accommodation and support-based services for individuals leaving mental health hospital
• Launching 3 Integrated Community teams and 3 Mental Health Neighbourhood teams to enable more deprived communities to access health, care and support

Living well and staying healthy

We have helped residents to keep as healthy as possible and manage their long-term health conditions by: 

• Enabling 2,084 residents to improve their health and wellbeing through Active for Life, Health Trainer and Stop Smoking services; our Stop Smoking campaign resulted in a 153% increase in the number of attempts to quit compared to 2023/2024
• Supporting more than 4,300 adults with mental health needs through the UOK service, delivered by a network of voluntary and community sector partners
• Helping more than 2,800 people access alcohol treatment and recovery services
• Introducing restrictions on the advertising of high fat, salt and sugar products on council advertising spaces such as bus stops
• Allowing neighbourhoods to allocate funding for grassroots projects to improve their communities’ health and wellbeing through the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund

Feeling safe and in control

We have worked in partnership with providers to ensure that residents receive good quality services and feel safe and in control of the care they receive by:

• Introducing a new reviewing team to help ensure we’re meeting people’s needs in a responsive and timely way
• Working with Healthwatch to deliver the Homecare Checks service, regularly visiting and interviewing homecare users to monitor the quality of services
• Refreshing our Fuel Poverty & Affordable Warmth Plan to help residents continue to warm their homes and afford their energy bills
• Supporting more than 4,000 people to be independent and feel safe at home through our CareLink Plus telecare alarm service
• Helping rough sleepers to access support through partnership work between social care and the Rough Sleeping Outreach team

Happy, healthy lives

Councillor Mitchie Alexander, Cabinet Member for Communities, Equalities, Public Health and Adult Social Care, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our Adult Social Care workforce and their dedication to improving the health and wellbeing of residents.

“There is a great deal to celebrate, including having reduced waiting times for Adult Social Care services from 7 months to just 6 weeks, and our Stop Smoking campaign, which led to a substantial increase in the number of attempts to quit compared to the previous year.

“We are proud of our strong partnership working which is building neighbourhood health, linking housing and care, and working collaboratively to improve outcomes.

"These achievements were made possible thanks to our talented staff across the city and their unwavering commitment to supporting adults in Brighton & Hove to live happy, healthy, independent and fulfilling lives.” 

CQC report

In December 2025, our Adult Social Care services were rated ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The inspection recognised the dedication of staff and partners, provided valuable feedback and confirmed the areas for improvement that we are currently working on.

Staff were praised for their compassionate and strengths-based approach, and the CQC observed that partnership working in Brighton & Hove is strong, with people supported by integrated teams facing shorter waiting times.

The improvement areas highlighted include reducing waiting times for assessments, improving our performance relating to annual reviews, reducing the number of people we place in permanent residential and nursing care, particularly outside the city, and strengthening our prevention offer. 

We are committed to taking the necessary steps to improve the issues raised by the CQC and have already begun implementing changes to strengthen our services, enhance quality and ensure the voices of those we support remain at the heart of everything we do.