Salford City Council’s cabinet has set out budget proposals for the next financial year that would see the authority spend more than £392 million on services to support residents, communities and businesses.
The proposals see council investment into services, with a focus on protecting vulnerable adults and children. This is demonstrated by the council proposing to commit 64 per cent of the budget (£251 million) for children’s services, adult social services and health. This includes services that the authority has a statutory responsibility to provide, including supporting around 560 children in care; and providing long-term care to 2,400 vulnerable adults, and short-term care to a further 400 vulnerable adults through residential, nursing and home care.
The council’s cabinet is proposing to deliver a balanced budget which avoids cuts to services and jobs. There is a proposed 2.99 per cent increase in council tax, as well as a 2 per cent increased precept for adult social care to help meet the rising demand and cost for services. This would mean that for a Band A property, the city council’s element of the council tax would be £1,368.51, an increase of £1.25 per week. A total of 63,614 homes in the city are Band A properties, and Bands A and B properties make up 70 per cent of all homes in Salford.
The proposed budget uses a £9.7 million recovery grant from the government – one of the highest grants of its kind being given to local authorities, with the new government recognising Salford as being the 18th most deprived area in the country; an additional £5.2 million social care grant; a new Children’s Services Prevention grant of £2 million; and £4.7million from the New Homes Bonus, achieved through the city and council building more homes than many other areas across the country.
Under the proposals, an additional £2 million would be invested in school transport for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), taking the total investment into the service to £10.477m; with an additional £572,000 increase in funding to support short breaks, which provides much-needed respite for families with SEND children; and support for Salford’s council-run Family Nurseries.
The proposals would see extra money invested into adult social care services to provide care packages, and to support adult social care workers in being paid a Foundation Living Wage.
The new government has announced that the Council will receive a welcome £6.5 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including £2.7 million for homelessness prevention. However, the Council will still have to increase its budget for temporary accommodation to address rising costs and demand, as shown by the 787 households currently housed in temporary accommodation and the around 5,000 people on the council’s housing waiting list.
The budget aims to protect essential services now as well as in the future, this includes additional investment in street cleansing vehicles and staff. The city will also get a share of an additional £14.8m allocated by the government for Greater Manchester to support road maintenance and tackle potholes. The proposals aim to help ensure we deliver the priorities in our corporate plan This is our Salford, to create a fairer, greener, healthier and more inclusive city.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “This budget’s focus on children’s services, adults and health demonstrates our commitment to meeting the needs of Salford residents, one of the most important functions of local government. Adults and children’s services play a key role in transforming health and improving outcomes for people, a focus reflected in our priorities of tackling poverty and inequality, healthy lives and quality care for all and a UNICEF-accredited Child Friendly City.
“Affordable, warm, stable and safe housing is also a cornerstone of good health and wellbeing so should be available to everyone. Both the housing and cost-of-living crises remains at the forefront of our priorities so we will continue to support those who are at risk of homelessness and struggling financially.
“We welcome the new government’s support, and their Recovery grant award of £9.7 million recognises that we have a greater need than many other councils. However, increased and growing demands for social care services will continue to be a challenge for us. There is still much uncertainty about long-term funding for local government, and it is clear that without the benefit of grant support and one-off payments this year, such as the Recovery Grant, we would not be able to propose a balanced budget.
“The last 14 years of austerity under the previous government took £245million out of Salford’s budget and has significantly contributed to increased demand on council services, whilst diminishing their operational capability and a challenging financial environment for all local authorities.
“The emphasis now must be on long-term and sustainable funding for councils that recognise demand pressures, and we will follow with interest the Chancellor’s Spring Statement in March, and the outcomes from the review of local government financing, which we will actively look to influence on behalf of our residents.
“We take our responsibility in spending public money wisely very seriously, and we will continue to invest in supporting residents and communities. Over the past 12 months we have delivered on our priorities to support residents with a real living wage, we have worked at pace to give more than 2,000 elderly households a total of £412,200 winter fuel payment support through the cold months and pledged significant support to save Salford Lads and Girls’ Club, a much-loved cultural institution within the city. At the same time, we are delivering on our pledge to build homes, with nearly 8,000 new homes built in the city between 2020-2023 – more than double our target and a higher rate than elsewhere across Greater Manchester, as well as over 500 truly affordable homes for social rent over the last five years.”
As part of a rigorous approval process, the budget proposals will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday 28 January and will then be put before a scrutiny panel on 5 February before final proposals are put before the cabinet again on 11 February. The final budget will then be put before a full council meeting of all 60 Salford City Council members on Wednesday 26 February.
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- Date published
- Tuesday 21 January 2025
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