Salford City Council Cabinet proposes no-cuts budget as funding is set out for 26/27

Budget proposals for the next financial year have been set out that would see Salford City Council spend more than £463 million on services for residents, communities and businesses.

The proposals were set out by the council’s cabinet on 10 February and give a continued focus on protecting vulnerable adults and children, and meet rising demands for these services.

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 two 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 £1,436.80 an increase of £1.31 per week. A total of 64,432 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 budget proposals would support significant cost increases for commissioned health services for children aged 0-19, substance misuse and sexual health, ensuring staff who deliver services are paid a Foundation Living Wage, and growing demand pressures for care packages that support adults to live in their own homes. The proposals also support investment in helping to prevent homelessness and early intervention, and a significant transformation programme that will see adult social care services that have been outsourced to other agencies return to direct council control over the next 12 months, to improve accountability and support the long-term sustainability of services. The proposals will also continue to support placements for children with complex needs despite a 14.5 per cent rise in average weekly placement costs, a 14 per cent increase in independent fostering agency placements and an eight per cent increase in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for children. The budget would see investment into special educational needs support and early intervention and family help services. 

The budget proposals also include investment into meeting the requirements of the new Renters’ Rights Bill later this year that focus on support for people in tenanted accommodation; ensuring that the council meets modernised food standards regulations; and investment in responding to crime and disorder; culture, leisure and skills services; and bringing the Not in Education, Employment or Training service in-house with a focus on early support and partnership working. 

The proposals would also support investment in the council’s IT infrastructure to meet legal requirements, especially improvements to finance and procurement systems to improve efficiency, transparency and financial control. The proposals are also underpinned by continuing efficiency measures to use digital innovation, redesigning services to be more efficient without impacting the people who use them, and a stronger, integrated approach to commissioning health and social care services.

The budget proposals are supported by changes to local government funding at a national level, with new funding formulas, a move towards consolidated grants, and the most significant redistribution of funding within the sector in the last 25 years. The budget proposals are supported by a three-year settlement from government to give greater certainty on funding to councils in the second and third years, and a simplified and improved fair funding assessment, with the consolidation of four grants for homelessness prevention, public health, a children’s prevention fund and a crisis resilience fund.

Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: 

“We welcome the greater surety from government on local authority funding over a three year period, and the simplification of grants. This stability allows us to plan with confidence, protect the services our residents rely on, and continue the long term work that has shaped Salford into a fairer, more resilient and forward looking city.

“Our commitment to bringing services that support vulnerable adults back under direct council control is a major step in strengthening quality, accountability and long term sustainability. This investment ensures that the people who depend on these services receive consistent, compassionate and high quality support that reflects Salford’s values.

“These proposals also show how we are responding to the needs of our residents, particularly the growing demand for special educational needs support. We are strengthening early intervention, improving family help services and ensuring that children with complex needs receive the right support at the right time. This builds on our wider ambition to become a fully recognised Child Friendly City, where children and young people are safe, supported and able to thrive.

“We remain determined to prevent homelessness wherever possible. That means not only supporting people in crisis but investing in the early help that stops households reaching that point. Our commitment to driving up housing standards is unwavering. Through our development company Dérive, we continue to deliver genuinely affordable homes at social rent, while challenging private developers to do more. We will keep taking a firm stance on landlord licensing and standards in houses of multiple occupation to protect tenants and raise expectations across the sector.

“Salford has a strong track record of regeneration that has transformed communities, created jobs and delivered new opportunities across the city. From major developments to neighbourhood level improvements, we have consistently invested in places and people, ensuring regeneration benefits local residents first. 

“This successful inclusive regeneration includes an additional £2 million invested into highways, to continue to maintain our roads and repair potholes, and over a million pounds of new investment in clean and green neighbourhoods, to tackle waste and fly tipping more effectively.

“Salford has always stood up for fairness, quality and strong public services. This budget continues that commitment and ensures we can meet the needs of our communities both now and in the years ahead.”

As part of a rigorous approval process, the cabinet’s budget proposals were also discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny Board on 4 February, before the final budget goes before a full council meeting of all Salford City Council members on Wednesday 25 February.