Manchester City Council has today (Friday 28 February) set its budget for 2025/26 outlining its spending plans to deliver services, make lives better and improve the city.
The allocation of the £894 million revenue budget highlights the Council’s priorities, as well as the demands on services that councils across the country are seeing. In common with councils across the land, Manchester City Council remains under significant financial pressure as it grapples with the difficult legacy of 14 years of national Government cuts to our budgets. Manchester was one of the areas hardest hit by cuts in central Government funding and a Council Tax increase of 4.99% (2% of which is specifically earmarked to support adult social care) has been required to help balance the budget.
However, improved funding for 2025/26 under the new Government - which saw Manchester receive one of the biggest increases in the country - and indications that future funding will be more closely linked to challenges such as deprivation have left grounds for optimism.
The 2025/26 budget prioritises supporting those most in need with a significant spend on children and adults social services; helping residents out of poverty and support with the cost of living crisis; building new genuinely affordable homes and reducing homelessness; protecting and investing in Manchester’s libraries and leisure centres, investing in our 148 parks and green spaces; and investing in local neighbourhoods and high streets. The council is allocating an extra £5 million to tackle fly tipping, clean up our streets and make sure the city is clean, green and tidy
Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig said:
“Our top priority is making sure that everything we do works towards making our city, and the lives of our residents, better. We’re pleased to be able to set a budget which continues to work hard for the people of Manchester – not just delivering the essential functions which they expect but also investing in making lives better and improving the city.
“We won’t forget the difficult cuts forced on us by previous governments since 2010 that left us £460 million worse off, but despite this we are putting residents first. From investing in new libraries and leisure centres, helping thousands of Mancunians with the cost of living crisis, expanding our youth offer, building much needed council and social housing to investing in neighbourhoods and high streets right across the city, we will always spend what we have in a way that helps Manchester.
“Clean, green, safe and well maintained neighbourhoods are the bedrock of a great city, and that’s why we are investing an extra £5million in these much-needed services to reduce litter and flytipping that blights too many communities and make sure our streets are clean and tidy.”
Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar, Executive Member for Finance, said:
"It’s been a tough few years for local government finances and the impact of cuts since 2010 can’t be turned round overnight.
“But thanks to careful planning and taking some difficult decisions early, Manchester has withstood the buffeting and is able to bring forward positive plans for how we’ll use the spending power which we still have.”
Supporting the most vulnerable
- Providing assistance, support and protection to around 5,500 children (including 1,351 looked after children, 842 of them in foster care.)
- Supporting more than 3,500 vulnerable adults through care at home or residential placements, with thousands more benefitting from equipment and home adaptations to help them live independently.
- Supporting around 2,700 homeless households and helping others avoid becoming homeless
Providing good quality everyday services
- Carrying out 31 million waste collections a year and providing street cleaning and other environmental services.
- Maintaining and investing in almost 150 parks and other green spaces.
- Providing 23 libraries and 25 leisure centres.
- Maintaining almost 2,500 miles of roads and pavements.
Investing in the future of the city to make it an even better place to live
- Major regeneration schemes are progressing across the city – from the transformation of Wythenshawe Civic Centre in the south to the enormous opportunities being opened up in North Manchester through initiatives such as Victoria North and Holt Town.
- In the past year 600 new council, social and genuinely affordable homes were completed with another 1,500 on site and a further 1,450 with planning permission in the pipeline.
Continuing to lend a helping hand to people struggling with the cost-of-living while tackling the underlying causes of poverty.
- Last year alone we spent £42m on measures to tackle poverty and support Mancunians with the cost of living.