Our budget 2024/25 video
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Transcript
As we set the Council’s budget for another year, I want to explain how it is spent and how that reflects our priorities for the city.
Our finances, in common with councils across the country, are being squeezed as Government funding fails to keep up with rising costs and demand for services – especially care services.
As the national cost-of-living crisis continues, we know times remain tough for many people in Manchester.
That’s why it’s more important than ever that we make the most effective use of resources - not just providing for immediate needs but focusing on tackling hardship and inequality, and boosting opportunities for a better future for all.
As our funding has continued to reduce since 2010, you have consistently told us you want us to prioritise support for the most vulnerable.
Services that keep people well, that give them support and help and protect the most vulnerable account for a large proportion of our budget.
Last year, we helped almost 5,200 children who needed help, support and protection.
This included 1,300 Looked After Children in the direct care of the Council, more than 800 of them in foster care.
We also supported 5,300 adults – both older people needing longer-term care and younger adults with learning difficulties.
Our re-ablement service helped more than 1,400 people to live independently at home, with most needing less ongoing care afterwards.
And we installed 11,300 items of equipment and adaptations to improve people’s home lives.
We supported more than 3,000 homeless households and prevented many others becoming homeless in the first place.
At the same time, we aren’t losing sight of the services that everybody relies on, those that keep the city running and make it a great place to live.
For instance we are responsible for:
30 million waste collections a year from around 244,000 households
Managing 143 parks
Overseeing 23 libraries and 25 sport and leisure centres
Maintaining more than 2,000 miles of roads and pavements
Directly managing around 16,000 council homes
It’s a huge range of services but they’re all working together for Manchester.
Our priorities for the next 12 months include investing in helping people through the cost-of-living crisis.
We are investing more than £35m in a package of measures to help residents who are struggling to make ends meet – from hardship funds to increasing Council Tax Support to keep bills really low for the poorest households.
We’ve even opened up all of libraries as warm spaces where people can go to get out of cold and have a hot drink.
In Manchester we’re committed to building homes that Manchester needs, so we’re spending more than £50m in 2024/25 on building new homes which will help us reach our ambitious target of 10,000 council, social and affordable homes over the next decade.
All this is underpinned by our commitment to reducing carbon emissions to combat climate change. So far ,we’ve secured £319 million - much of it external funding which doesn’t come from our budget – to support our current Climate Change Action Plan.
Whether it’s retrofitting homes to reduce people’s energy bills or making it easier and safer to get around the city by foot or bike, these changes have benefits which go far beyond cutting harmful carbon emissions.
We’re also looking to the future in our work to make Manchester a Child Friendly City, somewhere which puts children and young people at the heart of city life and is a great place for them to grow up.
And finally, we want to make our city an even better place to live. From tidy streets to thriving high streets, we know that this matters. And that's why we are investing in our basic services for clean, green and thriving neighbourhoods right across the city.
Let’s take a closer look at how our budget is spent.
The revenue budget for 2024/25 is £804 million.
The largest part of this goes on caring for and supporting older people, children and those with learning disabilities, as well as public health.
It also goes on helping to prevent homelessness and helping to provide accommodation and support for those experiencing it.
Pie chart graphic shows:
Adult Social Care £247.4m - 30%
Children and Education Services £156.4m - 19%
Public Health £44.5m - 5%
Homelessness £30.7m - 4%
A large slice is devoted to providing a wide range of services in your neighbourhoods – from emptying your bins to looking after your parks, libraries, leisure centres and roads.
Pie chart graphic shows:
Neighbourhood Services: £109.3m - 13%
Another significant element is corporate budgets which help fund transport, investment in building projects and provide contingency funding to help us plan for inflation and other, unexpected, costs.
Pie chart graphic shows:
Corporate budgets £116m - 14%
Then there’s funding for what we call the Core - the behind-the-scenes services at the heart of the Council which keep it going and enable our staff to work hard for the city.
Pie chart graphic shows:
Core: £112.5m - 14%
Finally, there’s Growth and Development – overseeing the building of much-needed housing, attracting jobs and investment to the city and helping ensure Manchester people have the skills to share in that success.
Pie chart graphic shows:
Growth and Development: -£12.8m
Like many local authorities across the country, we are facing tremendous financial pressures. But despite these pressures and the impacts of 14 years of austerity, we are in a better position than many councils. We have managed our finances carefully by taking tough long-term decisions early, and by investing in improving our prevention which has meant a reduction in the demand for the costliest services and targeting investment where it is most needed.
Ends