Decision - Seasonal Beach Lifeguard Service - Proposed Future Arrangements

Brighton and Hove Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism & Economic Development Committee Decided 18 Apr 2024 for determination GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism & Economic Development Committee

Report author

Mark Fisher

Published

18 Apr 2024

Reference

7211

As published

the council's own words, unedited

The beach lifeguard service on Brighton and Hove's beaches is currently managed directly by the council. The Seafront Office oversees 13km of coastline from Hove Lagoon to Saltdean. The season runs annually from the end of May to early September. The lifeguards are responsible for managing emergency responses to water and land-based incidents. A review of the service has been undertaken to look at options available to manage the lifeguard service from summer 2025.

RESOLVED: That Committee: 1. Noted that the soft market research identified in the options review shows that the RNLI are currently the only external organisation found to be operating beach lifeguard services for local authorities. 2. Agreed that delegated authority be given to the Corporate Director of City Services, in consultation with the relevant cabinet portfolio holder, to conclude negotiations with the RNLI leading to either the service being contracted out as detailed in paras 4.6 to 4.11 or continuing in-house as detailed in paras 4.3 to 4.5.

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 3967/795 tokens · 7552ms · parsed 9 Sep 2026 15:24

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.

The report considers whether Brighton and Hove’s seasonal beach lifeguard service should continue to be delivered in-house or be contracted to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) from summer 2025. The voluntary option was ruled out, and further negotiations with the RNLI were recommended before deciding whether to contract out the service or retain in-house delivery.

Recommendation

Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of City Services, in consultation with the relevant cabinet portfolio holder, to conclude negotiations with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), leading either to the service being contracted out from summer 2025 or continuing to be delivered in-house.

Financial impact

The 2024 in-house lifeguard season costs approximately £482,193 and is expected to be contained within the 2024/25 Seafront Services expenditure budget of £0.928 million. The cost of an RNLI service had not yet been determined; negotiations may identify savings.

Ward affected

city-wide

Decision maker

Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Economic Development Committee

Date in document

18 Apr 2024

Stakeholders named

parsed

Brighton and Hove beach usersseasonal beach lifeguardsSeafront OfficeRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)local authorities

Next steps

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The Corporate Director of City Services, in consultation with the relevant cabinet portfolio holder, will negotiate with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
The council will assess the potential costs, savings, risks and benefits of the RNLI option.
An Equalities Impact Assessment will be completed before the preferred future management option is decided.
If terms and costs cannot be agreed with the RNLI, the lifeguard service will continue to be delivered in-house and reviewed for efficiency improvements.

Precedents

not built

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