Manchester to slash children’s services budget by 26 per cent

Manchester council is set to cut 26 per cent of its children’s services budget with youth services and universal Sure Start services likely to take the biggest hit.

Announcing its budget for the next financial year, the council said that services for the most vulnerable will be prioritised.

The council has to make savings of £109m over the next financial year. In a statement the council blamed the scale and speed of cuts for the proposed service reductions.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Putting this budget together has involved the most difficult, and in many ways most unpalatable, process I have been involved in since I was first elected to the council.

“I cannot and will not pretend that the financial position in which we have been placed is anything other than bad news. Manchester is the fourth most deprived local authority area in the country but is among the top five hardest hit local authorities.”

The council’s children’s services budget will take a hit of £45.1m. Safeguarding of vulnerable children will be prioritised as well as increasing the number of social workers. The budget for looked-after children will be increasing by more than £6m.

But the council has decided to outsource many of its youth services, including youth centres, to voluntary groups and other agencies. A commissioning budget of more than £1m will be retained for this purpose. But centres that are not taken on by other organisations will close.

The council has also decided to commission more targeted early years and Sure Start services from local providers.