The Council and democracy Our budget for council services 2019/20

Priorities

Our three-year budget for 2017–20 set priorities that residents told us mattered most to them. 2019/20 is the final year of that budget and we’re sticking to the priorities residents set. 

To meet growing needs in those priorities we’ve adjusted some figures planned for 2019/20 – outlined here. By making savings, managing tight budgets efficiently and investing to prevent future need, we will make our funding go further on the things residents value, spending over £610million on council services in 2019/20.

Vulnerable people and children in care

Residents put our city’s most vulnerable people at the top of their concerns. They told us to support older people who need care, adults with mental health needs, children in care and homeless people. So we put more than half of what we spend each year into services that support them – £332m in 2019/20. 

Even so, we’ve had to find extra amounts to the figures planned for 2019/20 to meet growing need in residents’ priority areas. That means: 

  • Care and support for vulnerable people  An extra £11.4million to meet growing need from the most vulnerable residents for stable adult social care services. 
  • Giving young people the best start in life – Additional investment to meet the needs of children in care and for early help and prevention, and a further £150,000 for youth services, bringing the total extra investment for children’s services to £13.6m. 
  • Action on family poverty
    • £1.1m more for welfare support to reduce the impact of Government welfare reforms like Universal Credit.
    • A year-long debt advice campaign to reach those most in need.
  • Tackling homelessness and enforcing private renting standards – £4.6million extra to support homelessness services including £500,000 extra to enforce standards in private renting. 

Neighbourhoods

Consultation also told us to keep on track with basic services that keep neighbourhoods clean, green and pleasant to live in – like bin collections, street cleaning and road repairs and good management.  

  • £500,000 extra to tackle and clear fly-tipping, and to chase and prosecute those doing it. 
  • £1.7m of pothole repairs in 2019/20 and road resurfacing in every neighbourhood as part of our £100million programme that’s already seen 43 roads resurfaced and a further 24 repaired this year.
  • An extra £1.5m over three years to double our resources to tackle antisocial behaviour.  

Getting people into work and training also came high on the list of what residents value, so we’ll continue our work to create good jobs and make sure that Manchester people have the maximum chance of getting them. 

Our consultation showed that Manchester people really value how libraries, leisure centres and parks improve quality of life in their neighbourhoods. We’ve been honouring that in our budgets with:

  • Moss Side’s amazing £8.6million refurbishment of the Leisure Centre and Library.
  • Next year’s start on a brand new Leisure Centre and Library at Abraham Moss. 
  • The new Somme memorial, Tree-top Trek and new play area at Heaton Park.
  • Restoration of Wythenshawe Hall to its former glory. 
  • Grant funding of £1.5m secured to get more people involved in physical activity to keep fit and healthy. 

Background to our 2019/20 budget update
 

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