Our budget video
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Our Budget 2026/27
Cllr Bev Craig
Manchester is an incredible city; a city that we’re all proud to call home. And right across our city, we see so many incredible things happen every single day.
It’s great to see record levels of investment going into our local communities and our neighbourhoods because, despite the record numbers of homes that we’ve seen built, the jobs that we’ve created, and the growth that we’ve seen, we at Manchester City Council think that Manchester can be even better.
That’s why this year, we’re determined to see the extra money that we’re getting from Government going into high-quality services. We believe that for every Mancunian to thrive, everyone should be able to live a good life. That means a good home, it means a good job, and it means invested in, well-cared-for and nice to live in neighbourhoods, right across the city.
To be able to achieve that, the council’s budget, both how much we have available to spend and how it is spent, is integral to delivering this plan. Now, it’s well-documented that between 2010 and 2024, Manchester was among the places hardest hit by National Government cuts, which limited our ability to spend on our priorities, your priorities.
This year, though, we have turned a significant corner. Fair funding and a boost in funding from the current Government has improved our position. It means that we can finally really invest in the services that matter most to Mancunians; the things that you tell me every single day you want us to do more of.
For the first time ever, our revenue budget, the cash we have to spend, is more than a billion pounds. A billion pounds that will be used to make Manchester even better. This means supporting our children at every stage: more money for youth centres, youth groups, and play facilities, to help the almost 7,500 children in care or in need. It means spending more on being there for the thousands of vulnerable adults, including the 3,000 older people who need residential care or support to live independently.
It means investing in our local high streets and district centres, which we know means so much right across the city, such as here in Wythenshawe. It means we can build record levels of Council, social, and genuinely affordable homes right here in Manchester, meeting our target of 10,000 new homes that are genuinely affordable to all Mancunians, like the 130 behind me here in Collyhurst; 130 council homes for local residents.
We can invest in reducing homelessness, already bucking the national trend, investing in prevention, getting people off the streets, and helping people into long-term settled homes. We’re getting on with tackling poverty and all its root causes, and providing extra support for the cost of living for those that need it most.
And crucially, yes, we’re able to boost street cleansing, putting millions extra into our budget to crack down on fly-tipping and litter and make our communities cleaner. We’re investing in libraries right across the city, extending opening hours and opening on a Sunday. We’re helping people be active and healthy with community events to get involved in and easy-to-access sports, leisure, and physical activities in all of our neighbourhoods. We’re expanding our free swimming for under-16s and over-60s, and we’re investing in our communities to give people community events and things to do.
We’re investing in looking after our roads and pavements with millions more to improve roads and footpaths, taking our annual highways budget to over £20 million. And of course, we’re investing in 150 parks and green spaces: more play equipment, more things to do, and better facilities.
This budget is good news for Manchester: for our neighbourhoods, for our local high streets, and above all, for our people.
Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar
So, how does that £1 billion budget for 2026-27 break down? Manchester residents told us in our budget consultation that support for vulnerable people is a high priority. Almost half of our budget is spent on supporting older people, people with learning disabilities, and children. Our Adult Social Care budget is around £300 million, and our Children and Education Services budget is just over £200 million.
Then, the next biggest slice of our service budget is devoted to our neighbourhoods: from emptying your bins to looking after your parks, leisure centres, libraries, like this wonderful one in Longsight, and roads. This, too, reflects residents’ priorities. Our Neighbourhood Services budget is around £150 million.
Then there’s funding for Corporate Services. The behind-the-scenes teams are the heart of the council; they keep it going and enable our staff to work hard for the city. Our Corporate Services budget is around £115 million. Our spending on Public Health accounts for around another £60 million.
Next is funding for Growth and Development: overseeing the building of much-needed housing, attracting jobs and investment to the city, and helping ensure Manchester people can share in that success. Its budget doesn’t sound like much, but that’s because it also brings in money by commercially renting out Council-owned properties. The Growth and Development budget is around £10 million.
Finally, Corporate budgets. They fund a wide range of essentials, from delivering our capital programmes to build new Council, social, and affordable homes, to contingency funds to help us deal with inflation and unexpected issues. The Corporate budgets are around £215 million.
All these elements of our improved budget will work together to help Manchester be a great place to live, with opportunities for everybody.