Salford Residents will be paying around £65 extra Council tax from April as the council sets out its budget proposals for next year
Proposals will see the authority spend more than £392 million on services to support residents, communities and businesses with 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.
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
This would see 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 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.
