Manchester City Council have released the following information on their budget cuts:
‘The Council’s difficult financial situation has seen us make £250million of cuts in the last few years.
This year our overall budget is just over £560m.
The latest financial indications from the government show further reductions are required. The Council has therefore produced options to address an estimated funding shortfall of £59m in 2015/16, possibly rising to £91 million in 2016/17.
Since 2010 the amount we have to spend on services has dropped by over 40%.
A range of options
The Council are considering a range of options. It's a challenging exercise, but we're determined to keep to our basic priorities of:
• Growth – encouraging things like improved transport and infrastructure to boost jobs and skills;
• Reform – helping people to be independent, promoting health, and safely reducing the number of looked-after children;
• Place – promoting clean and safe neighbourhoods, vibrant local areas and major events and attractions.
The Council have come up with options for cuts in three main areas of council services – called 'directorates'.
See the proposals for:
• Children and families: responsible for social care services for vulnerable people, and for arranging access to schools, colleges and youth services;
• Growth and neighbourhoods: responsible for things like bins and recycling, street cleaning, leisure, libraries, culture, and regeneration;
• The Corporate Core: responsible for a range of support like communications, research, IT, customer services, finance and for services that generate income, like pest control, or pay out money, like Housing Benefits.
We expect to cut around 600 jobs, on top of the almost 3,000 lost in the last four years. As in previous years we want to try to avoid compulsory redundancies by offering our staff voluntary severance and early retirement.
Council Tax Freeze
Once again, the Council is intending to freeze its share of the Council Tax. Manchester already has one of the lowest average Council Tax bills in the country.
Consultation
We want people to comment on these options and we welcome feedback, along with alternative suggestions that will feed into the decision-making process.
We will consider viable alternatives to the options but by law we have to balance the budget – so the Council can’t spend more than the amount of money it has available.
• View the consultation process
Have you got any comments, feedback, questions or want to be notified when the consultation starts.’
For further information, visit: www.manchester.gov.uk/budget
Consultation process
Wednesday 26 November 2014
The options are presented to the Council's Executive Committee. This is a public meeting, broadcast live on this website.
Wednesday 26 November 2014
This is the official consultation period. It’s your chance to give comments and make suggestions on the options.
Wednesday 18 February 2015
The Executive Committee considers the draft budget and makes any amendments.
Friday 6 March 2015
The full Council meeting confirms the final budget.