Council sets budget and reduces planned cuts after consultation

Birmingham City Council has set its budget for 2017-18, committing nearly £550 million to services that protect and support vulnerable adults and children, and reducing some of the cuts it had proposed after listening to residents.

The budget was approved at a meeting of the full council on 28 February.

Where the money goes

Spending on adult social services will rise by £53 million to £338 million, made up of £317 million for adult social care and £21 million for the Supporting People budget.

A further £211 million is being committed to children's services, including £162 million for child protection and £17 million for the Travel Assist scheme. The council has also committed to investing £379 million in building affordable homes over the next ten years.

The council will spend £12 million on its parks and has set aside £22 million for its libraries.

Changes after consultation

More than 3,000 people responded to the consultation on the budget, one of the council's largest, and around 100,000 people were engaged in some way. As a result, the council has reduced the cuts it had planned by £7.5 million, using £2.9 million raised through the extra one per cent social care precept and £4.6 million from new sources of income.

Among the changes, cuts to the Supporting People budget have been reduced by £2 million and to parks by £1.2 million. The proposed £750,000 cut to museums in 2017-18 will not go ahead, and planned cuts to post-16 travel have been halted.

"As difficult as ever"

Council leader John Clancy said the financial challenge remained severe. "We have made savings of almost £600 million since 2010 and expect to make a further £170 million savings by 2021," he said.

"However, even faced with the most challenging financial circumstances, we are still investing in our frontline services with more money going into priority areas - such as adult social care and protecting vulnerable children."

He said the council had listened to residents before setting the budget. "We also took on board the huge importance Brummies place on parks and museums, and have been able to considerably reduce the cuts we initially planned in these areas."

But he warned that the council would need to work more closely with partners, community groups and residents to find new ways of delivering services. "We are a young city and this gives us tremendous opportunities but we must galvanise that youthful zeal to forge a city of active communities, of innovation, creativity and social enterprise."

Under scrutiny

The budget has been set under close watch. In November, the independent panel overseeing the council's improvement warned that it faced a "mammoth task" to balance its books after an overspend of around £49 million in the current year, and an independent review of the 2017-18 budget was commissioned to test whether the savings could be delivered.

The panel is due to report again to the government on how the budget has been set. With limited reserves and further savings to find, the council will be under pressure to show that this year's plans can be delivered in full.