Report of the Executive Director Adult Social Services and Director of Public Health

Following the Spending Review announcements and provisional local government finance settlement 2022/23 the Council is forecasting a balanced budget for 2022/23, a gap of £37m in 2023/24 and £58m by 2024/25. This report sets out the high-level position.  

Further to minute (HSC/21/45) the Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Adult Social Services and Director of Public Health which provided a further update on the saving proposals being proposed as part of the 2022/23 budget process.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Following the Spending Review announcements and provisional local government finance settlement 2022/23 the Council was forecasting a balanced budget for 2022/23, a gap of £37m in 2023/24 and £58m by 2024/25;

·         The finance settlement was towards the positive end of forecasts and no actions beyond those outlined in November were required to balance next year's budget;

·         The settlement was for one year only and considerable uncertainty remained from 2023/24;

·         A longer-term strategy to close the budget gap was being prepared with an estimated requirement to find budget cuts and savings in the region of £60m over the next three years;

·         £30m of risk-based reserves had been identified as available to manage risk and timing differences;

·         A description of the Adult Social Care Priorities;

·         An overview of the Manchester City Council Adult Social Care Budget and Manchester Local Care Organisation aligned budget; and 

·         The capital budget and pipeline priorities.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         The need to explicitly articulate the demand on the Adult Social Care budget and the services that the Council is statutory responsible to deliver, in the context of continued austerity and budget cuts;

·         The need for a fair, long term financial settlement for the city;

·         The budget should be used to address the recognised health inequalities within the city;

·         The Government was in denial of challenges faced by the NHS;

·         Paying tribute to the Deputy Leader and officers and NHS partners for their continued commitment to protecting the most vulnerable residents within the city; and

·         Was there any possibility of further additional one off funding sources.

In response to comments the Director of Finance (MLCO) stated that there were no further additional one off sources of funding, adding that the integrated approach to the budget ensured that there was an appropriate use of the budget and resources available.

The Deputy Leader commented that whist the overall settlement announcement was towards the positive end of expectations, this did not constitute being a good settlement and the Council had lost over £400m from its budget since 2010.  If the Council had received the average level of cuts in funding, this year it would have at least £85m in its budget. The Council was also still dealing with the legacy of the COVID pandemic and the promise from government that it would compensate local authorities with whatever they needed. She added that it was not possible to undo a decade of cuts with a settlement in one year that was not as severe as anticipated and looking beyond next financial year there was significant worries which meant that the Council needed to continue its call for fair and sustainable funding.

The Deputy Leader commented that whilst the settlement was better than anticipated, the Council still faced a very challenging three year budget position. In 2022/23 the Council would be using the last of its commercial income reserve to help balance the budget and there was a remaining budget gap of approximately £37m in2023/24 and £58m in 2024/25.  As the settlement announcement was for only one year, the Council was facing increasing uncertainty with proposals around fairer funding reforms and the implications of these.

The Deputy Leader commented that the ASC budget accounted for 35% of the Councils overall budget as it was required to provide statutory services and the settlement provided no additional funding for increased demand in ASC. She stated that a fair, sustainable plan was needed in order to plan effectively so as to provide essential services for Manchester residents.

The Chair welcomed the inclusion of addressing climate action within the Population Health Team’s priorities for 2022-23. She further commented that the Committee would schedule an item on the Work Programme to consider the Equalities Impact Assessment of the Better Outcomes, Better Lives programme.

Decision

The Committee note the report and endorse a recommendation that the Executive approve these budget proposals.