Introduction
We've faced tough challenges setting this budget. Our costs and income have been severely hit by the pandemic on top of budget pressures already there, caused by a growing population and inflation.
We had some extra funding from Government for COVID-19 costs, but not enough to bridge our budget gaps, so we’ve had to reduce spending on services by £40.7m in 2021/22 with reductions of:
- £11.6m for Adult Services
- £12.4m for Children’s Services
- £6.7m for Neighbourhoods
- £5.7m for the Corporate Core
- £2.4m for Homelessness
- £2m for Growth and Development
These cuts would have been bigger without an increase in Council Tax.
The element of Council Tax which we set - which doesn’t include the part that funds the Greater Manchester mayor or the police - will go up by 1.99% plus another 3% earmarked for adult social care.
Together this means a 4.99% increase, raising around £8.5m, reducing the need for further cuts and supporting our most vulnerable residents.
The estimated cost of the pandemic to adult social services in 2021/2 is £13m. Government funding for adult social care does not meet growing demands. Even the 3% increase in council tax earmarked for adult social will only raise around £5.1m of this.
Our services are funded from five main sources:
- business rates
- council tax
- government grants
- dividends
- reserves
In recent years, as central government funding has reduced and more local business rates directly fund services, our ability to grow and maintain locally raised resources has become even more important for financial sustainability and is key to our financial planning.
See our full budget report – item 5c