Introduction
Our plans for spending on Council services normally span three years or more. But Brexit uncertainty and an end-of-year general election made our usual long-term budgeting impossible for the financial year 2020/21.
Instead, we’ve set a balanced budget of £665million – sticking to the priorities residents have told us matter most.
This year, we’ll spend £42.9million more than last year, addressing ongoing pressures on priority services hit by a decade of austerity.
We will use the increase to invest in social care for children and vulnerable adults, and homelessness services.
To help fund this, we’ll find around £7.5million of savings from efficiencies in how we run and staff services, and use income from fees and charges.
Our Budget priorities
Our budget options we’re considering for 2020/21 is based on the past three years’ priorities – established in extensive consultations with Manchester’s people and businesses. These are:
- Care and support for vulnerable people,
- Action on family poverty and giving young people the best start in life
- Tackling homelessness
- Supporting people into jobs and training
- Keeping our roads in good shape and our neighbourhoods clean, tackling flytipping and litter
- Parks and leisure to keep people active and happy
In addition, our spending plans support a new priority: for Manchester to become a zero-carbon city by 2038 at the latest.
But there are still challenges, particularly in frontline services such as homelessness, children in care and social care. The impact on our services of a growing population, of people’s housing requirements and of our city’s continuing growth mean that we must continue to work in new ways, and find new solutions, with residents and our partners.