Another 600 council job losses, reductions in school crossing patrols ending free swimming for over-60s and under-16s and the end of funding to Manchester Adult Education Service.

Those are some of the options being considered as Manchester City Council has published details of options to address an estimated funding shortfall of £59m in 2015/16, possibly rising to £91 million in 2016/17.

The Council has already had to make £250m of cuts between 2011 and 2015 following deep reductions in central government funding.

In the last financial settlement, which included the 2015-16 period, Manchester was handed the biggest percentage cut in government funding of any of England’s core cities,the biggest in Greater Manchester and the largest of any Metropolitan area outside London. This is despite Manchester having the fourth highest level of deprivation in the country.

In a detailed examination of its options the council anticipates it will need to reduce staffing by almost 600 full time posts, on top of the almost 3,000 lost in the previous four years,

Other policy being considered including aiming to reduce the number of children who need to be taken into care or made subject to child protection plans.

A new Early Years model, including intensive parenting support for identified families, which has been piloted in three wards will also now be extended across the city. This will, however, now be concentrated on the families where it will make the biggest difference, saving between £500,000 and £1.12m on what had originally been budgeted.

Spending on mental health services could be reduced, with a focus on early intervention and supporting people into work.

The range of services to tackle homelessness will be streamlined and specialist support to refugees and asylum seekers replaced with a more general service.

The council will consider ending discretionary school uniform grants and reducing provision of free school travel to the minimum required by law.

Under the latter option pupils whose parents have chosen for them to attend a faith or single sex school rather than their nearest school, or another within walking distance, would no longer be eligible for free travel.

The Council may end its funding to Manchester Adult Education Service, leaving the external Skills Funding Agency grant funding which makes up the majority of the service’s budget.

Savings could also be made through the merger of regeneration, neighbourhood delivery and community and cultural services teams, the ending of cash grants for community projects in individual Council wards.

Another option being considered is to reduce the number of school crossing patrols from the current 95, removing the 40 assessed as having the lowest need.

The increased introduction of 20mph zones is expected to have a positive safety impact and schools will still be able, individually or collectively, to fund a school crossing patrol in their area if they so wished.

Options will be presented in a series of reports going to Council scrutiny committees taking place in the week beginning Monday 17 November. The reports will then be considered at the Executive meeting on Wednesday 26 November, ahead of a public consultation being launched on options.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “This is a much longer budget-setting process than usual and we want to be open and transparent about the extremely tough position we are in and some of the stark choices we face.

“Let us be clear. What we are announcing today are options, not proposals. We will listen carefully to people’s views in the months ahead. If they have viable alternative options for cuts we will give them serious consideration because, frankly, we don’t much like the options we have.

“We have to set a balanced budget and the severity of the cuts to our central government funding on top of previous cuts make that deeply challenging, and not something that can be achieved painlessly

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