Decision - The Future of Homewood College

Brighton and Hove Cabinet Decided 27 Jun 2024 · effective 6 Jul 2024 approved Key decision GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Cabinet

Report author

Richard Barker

Published

28 Jun 2024

Reference

7243

As published

the council's own words, unedited

The report outlines proposals on the future of Homewood College

1) Cabinet agree to consult on the closure of Homewood College to take effect on 31 December 2024. 2) Cabinet agrees that following the outcome of the consultation authority is delegated to the Cabinet Member Finance and City Regeneration to consider the outcome and make the decision whether to continue the closure process and publish a statutory notice. 3) Cabinet agrees that the outcome of the representation period following publication of the statutory notice returns to Cabinet in November 2024 for a final decision regarding closure.

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 6952/1458 tokens · 12177ms · parsed 9 Sep 2026 15:30

Everything below was read out of a PDF by a model It is useful and it is not authoritative. The document it came from is linked in the rail, and where the two disagree the document is right.

Brighton & Hove City Council proposed consulting on the closure of Homewood College, an inadequate community special school, with closure intended to take effect on 31 December 2024. The proposal follows concerns about education quality, attendance, staffing, financial deficits and the absence of an Academy Trust sponsor, with alternative placements being arranged for pupils.

Recommendation

Cabinet agree to consult on the closure of Homewood College to take effect on 31 December 2024; delegate authority to the Cabinet Member Finance and City Regeneration to consider the consultation outcome and decide whether to publish a statutory notice; and bring the outcome of the representation period back to Cabinet in November 2024 for a final decision.

Financial impact

Homewood College had a cumulative deficit of £709,000 at the end of the 2023/24 financial year, which will become a cost to the Council’s general fund budget. Additional redundancy costs may arise, while re-commissioned placements are expected to produce annual savings of approximately £250,000 for 50 places.

Ward affected

city-wide

Decision maker

Cabinet

Date in document

27 Jun 2024

Stakeholders named

parsed

Pupils at Homewood CollegeParents and carers of pupilsHomewood College staffBrighton & Hove City CouncilDepartment for EducationBeckmead Academy TrustEducational Psychology support services

Next steps

parsed

Launch a public consultation on 8 July 2024.
Run the consultation until 5 September 2024, including in-person and online engagement events.
Have the Cabinet Member Finance and City Regeneration consider the consultation outcome on 26 September 2024 and decide whether to publish statutory notices.
Conduct the four-week representation period from 7 October to 4 November 2024.
Return the outcome of the representation period to Cabinet on 14 November 2024 for a final decision.
Arrange alternative educational placements for pupils, including provision at St George’s House.
If closure is approved, confirm and implement the closure, with Homewood College scheduled to close on 31 December 2024.

Precedents

not built

"Decided elsewhere" is not built Finding the same decision in other councils needs semantic matching over decision text, which is part of the search rewrite. Until then, the council's own decisions list is the way through.