What 2017 Budget will mean for us
STRUGGLING social care departments across the region are finally set to get extra cash next month after the Chancellor’s Spring Budget – while booze and cigarettes are about to get more expensive.
Philip Hammond used his speech to unveil £1bn additional funding to support vulnerable people across England this year amid warnings the system is close to collapse.
Greater Manchester is also likely to be in line for a chunk of money aimed at fixing run-down hospital buildings and building new healthcare facilities, as well as extra investment to improve the local road network.
The living wage will rise from £7.20 to £7.50, as expected, while smoking and drinking will get more expensive – adding 35p to a pack of 20 cigarettes and 2p onto the cost of a pint.
Struggling pubs will be handed a £1,000 discount on their business rates, however, as part of a package of shortterm reforms aimed at small businesses hit by rises in the tax.
But the Budget contained bad news for thousands of self-employed people across the region – who will be hit by a 2pc increase to their National Insurance contributions despite Conservative promises not to raise taxes at the general election.
In a speech that notably failed to mention Brexit by name once, Mr Hammond said economic forecasts are now looking rosier than at his last budget in December, with growth healthier than previously predicted and public borrowing lower, adding: “Our United Kingdom has a proud history. We have done remarkable things together, but we look forwards, not backwards, confident that our greatest achievements lie ahead of us.
“Today, we reaffirm our commitment to invest in Britain’s future and we embark on this next chapter of our history, confident in our strengths and clear in our determination.”
As widely expected ahead of the Budget, he announced a wave of new funding for social care from April after months of clamour from councils, NHS leaders and Labour.
Greater Manchester currently faces a £176m shortfall in social care funding by 2020 – and has already outlined its own plans to try to close the gap, including helping people with learning disabilities into work and training up more care workers to try to address the shortfall in residential places.
In total, £2bn was announced for the next three years by the Chancellor, with Treasury sources insistent that the cash is new and not taken from other existing funding. The Department for Local Government will announce how that will be allocated later this week, with health sources locally noting ‘the devil will be in the detail.’
Mr Hammond also announced £325m in extra cash for renewing and building hospital and other healthcare buildings – which will be given to those areas already well along the road towards a long-term NHS strategy.
That is highly likely to include Greater Manchester, which has been working on that for longer than anywhere else, but again further details are not expected until later this week. A further £100m is being made available to improve triage services at over-crowded A&Es, but again it remains unclear which areas will get the cash.
Meanwhile, £90m was also unveiled for road improvements across the north, with councils set to bid for that cash. For more on the Bugdet, go to manchester eveningnews.co.uk
Today, we reaffirm our commitment to invest in Britian’s future Chancellor Philip Hammond