Homeless hit in town hall’s £50m slash on spending
NEAR 5PC COUNCIL TAX RISE ALSO PLANNED AND 200 JOBS SET TO GO IN BID TO BALANCE BOOKS
MANCHESTER council is planning cuts of nearly £50m this year – including wiping millions from homelessness spending – despite ‘better than expected’ support from the Government.
Council tax could rise by almost five per cent, raising £8.5m to prevent further cuts to frontline services such as adult social care.
Town hall leaders had been preparing for a ‘worst case scenario’ of a £103m black hole in their finances caused by dramatic losses of income and increased Covid-related costs.
This shortfall has more than halved since the national spending review and local government finance settlement were announced late last year.
But significant savings are still expected in order to balance the books in 2021/22, with nearly 200 jobs expected to go under proposals set to go out for consultation.
The city’s homelessness service could have £2.3m taken from its budget, though cuts of £1.2m which would have led to some shelters closing have been taken off the table.
Extra investment would also give the council greater control over commissioning 55 beds for rough sleepers which currently fall within the regional A Bed Every Night scheme.
However discretionary housing payments worth £1m for those unable to pay their rent could still be taken away, less than the £1.5m originally proposed.
Elsewhere, potential cuts in children’s services worth £12.6m would be partly met by reducing the number of costly care placements for children sent outside of Manchester.
Almost £15m could also be taken out from the council’s joint funding arrangement with the NHS over several years – down from a potential £20m if the council tax rise is agreed.
Wythenshawe’s indoor market would close to save £110,000 a year, while the council could also save £450,000 by axing its struggling catering service Manchester Fayre.
Manchester is expecting to receive millions of pounds in grants and emergency funding, while also raising further funds by increasing the adult social care precept within council tax.
But many of the funding streams will run out after this year and with the Government giving no long-term funding guarantee, council leader Sir Richard Leese described the settlement as ‘completely inadequate.’
Speaking to councillors this week he said: “The settlement is better than we might have expected in terms of the range of cuts that we’re looking at, which are now towards the bottom end of that range.
“But let me be equally clear, the bottom range is £50m and that is not good news by any stretch of the imagination.”
Sir Richard criticised the Government for offering no compensation for the huge losses of income sustained by local authorities during the pandemic.
Manchester council is missing out on £134m in lost income from the Manchester Airport dividend, as well as dwindling council tax and business rates collections.
The expectation for local authorities to fund social care services through ‘regressive’ council tax was also described as ‘scandalous’ by Sir Richard.
The budget proposals will be considered by Manchester council’s executive on January 21 before going out for consultation. Councillors will then vote on the final proposals in February.