Public sector jobs in Brighton and Hove

Most public sector jobs in Brighton and Hove are with Brighton and Hove City Council, the Sussex NHS trusts, the city’s schools and Sussex Police. They pay national rates with no London or fringe weighting, even though housing costs are closer to the South East’s than to the national average. That gap is the main thing to plan around: a band 5 nurse earns £32,073 to £39,043 here, the same as in Hull or Sunderland.

The main employers

Brighton and Hove City Council is a unitary authority, so it runs social care, children’s services, housing, waste and recycling, parks, libraries, highways and seafront services. Most posts are on the NJC pay spine, which rose by 3.3 per cent from 1 April 2026. The lowest point, SCP 3, is £25,614.

In health, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in the city, alongside hospitals elsewhere in Sussex. Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health services and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust provides community health services. South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust covers 999 calls.

Sussex Police and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service cover the city. A new constable starts at £32,255 (PP1, from 1 September 2026) and a firefighter in development at £31,539 (from 1 July 2026).

Teachers are paid on the England scale outside London: £34,069 at M1 from 1 September 2026, under the award the government accepted. School support staff are on the NJC spine, usually paid for term-time only.

What the national scales are worth here

Because there is no local supplement, it helps to know exactly where each offer sits:

Job	Pay from 2026
NHS band 2	£25,272
Council, NJC SCP 3	£25,614
NHS band 3	£25,760 to £27,476
Police constable PP1	£32,255
NHS band 5	£32,073 to £39,043
Teacher M1	£34,069

Lower-paid roles are where the cost of living bites hardest. The voluntary Real Living Wage for 2026/27 is £14.10 an hour outside London, against the legal National Living Wage of £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over. Some public bodies and their contractors are accredited Living Wage employers and are expected to pay the new rate within six months of its announcement on 15 October 2026. The Real Living Wage vs the National Living Wage explains how accreditation works.

Part-time and flexible working

Public sector employers in the city, like elsewhere, have well-established policies on part-time hours, compressed hours, job shares and term-time working. Since 6 April 2024, every employee has the right to request flexible working from their first day. You can make two requests in any 12 months, the employer must decide within two months, and it can only refuse for one of eight business reasons after consulting you. Flexible working requests sets out the process, and flexible working in the public sector covers how NHS, council and school policies tend to handle it.

Part-time pay is worked out pro rata, and so is annual leave. NHS staff start on 27 days plus bank holidays (full-time equivalent) and council staff on at least 23 days plus bank holidays and two extra days. Your pension contribution rate in the NHS and Teachers’ schemes is set on your actual pay, not the full-time figure, so a part-time post may put you in a lower tier. Take-home pay for part-time workers works through examples.

Where to look for jobs

• Brighton and Hove City Council’s careers page for council and maintained school support roles
• NHS Jobs for the Sussex trusts
• Teaching Vacancies for schools
• Sussex Police and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service recruitment pages
• Civil Service Jobs for any government posts in the city or nearby

Many people in Brighton commute into London or along the coast. If you are comparing a local job with a London one, remember that London weighting is taxed and the cost and time of commuting is not reflected in either salary.