Greater Manchester to get new Scotland-style funding system with more freedom over finances

Photo: GMCA

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham

Greater Manchester will receive more freedom from the Government over its finances as it moves towards a Scotland or Wales-style funding system, Andy Burnham has announced.

The Mayor revealed that the next spending review in Whitehall will change the way the region is able to access funds, away from the current system of managing money from around 150 different sources each with different rules, to one single block.

It means the city region will gain more control over how it spends its budget and the type of support it is able to provide residents.

Mr Burnham said: “Our funding will come as a block rather than being tied up as it currently is in lots of different pots. We currently have a budget of about £1.5 billion, it sounds a lot but it’s tied up in 150 different funding streams, all of which have got their own rules and requirements.

“But we’re moving beyond that, so that we’ll be able to decide much more ourselves how we are going to support our communities.”

The Mayor added that the new funding system, called the single settlement, will change the way the region is able to tackle social issues, shifting from campaigning and reacting, to a preventative approach.

The announcement came as part of the launch of a new 10-year strategy on reducing crime and violence among young people in Greater Manchester. In Scotland, the annual budget is partially funded through a block grant from the UK Government which is raised from different taxes.

Powers have been devolved to Greater Manchester for years, with a 2014 devolution deal between Westminster and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority offering more control over transport, housing, planning and policy as part of the Northern Powerhouse project.

It also saw the creation of the mayor’s office, which was set up to offer more accountability for the decisions made in the region.

With devolved powers, Mr Burnham has introduced a number of changes to how the region is run, including bringing buses back into public control through the Bee Network, as well as capping bus fares at £2 per journey.

However, relations between the Mayor and Westminster have not always been cordial, with Mr Burnham becoming a vocal critic of Government policy such as the scrapping of HS2 which was announced in the city at the Conservative Party conference in October.

Declan Carey, Local Democracy Reporter