Branch Officers attended a public briefing for stakeholders in the City, where Manchester City Council’s leadership outlined the budget proposals which detail massive reductions in services and, in some cases, proposals to no longer provide services.
The details have been posted on the Council’s website this morning and are now also available on our Branch website.
While the cuts flow from the Con-Dem attack on our City, they will nevertheless impact massively on our members and on the communities we serve.
The scale of the reductions are spread across every Directorate.
Today, officers are attending a series of meetings with Strategic Directors and will circulate reports later.
There will be two-week public consultation period before decisions are taken on 28 February 2011, with the budget being agreed on 9 March 2011.
The 25% cut in the Council’s budget has led to proposals which will cause massive concerns with our members and the public alike.
Among the massive reductions in services, the Council is proposing not to directly provide a youth service or the Sure Start service and to commission them instead.
Some proposals involve the creation of social enterprises.
Other services, such as Manchester Advice, have been suggested as suitable for closure.
Five of the smaller libraries are suggested for closure.
The list is a long and bleak one.
Our Branch will be arranging meetings as soon as possible in individual services, but in the meantime there will be a Council-wide stewards’ meeting held in the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street at 12.30 on Monday, 14 February 2011 .
These are very worrying times for our members and our Branch will be doing all it can do to assist members during this extremely difficult process.
Members are urged to regularly check the Branch website for further information.
Pat McDonagh
Branch Secretary
