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Manchester City Council budget - implications for mental health

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I've just skim read the Budget Proposals for Manchester City Council's Adults' Directorate, for 2011 / 12. Richard Leese, Leader of the Council, is quite clear that there will be some very, very hard cuts. With planned savings of £109m there's no way there wouldn't be. I'm very wary of drawing conclusions from a quick read of something, but here are the important bits that I could find relating to the provision of mental health services:

  • Rates for mental health provision: projected saving in 2011/12 is £600,000; projected saving in 2012/13 is £600,000 - making a total projected saving over the next two years of £1.2 million. Ouch.
  • Individual budgets (IBs)propose to restrict the cash IB offer, which will make efficiencies of £1.466m. Create an independent review team to promote independence and reduce dependency with savings identified as up to £1.92m.
  • The budget settlement from central government reduces the Supporting People grant by 35% equating to a £12.6m reduction. The City Council have says: "The impact, if passported in its entirety, would displace 300 people from their accommodation and would remove tenancy support to 900 most vulnerable people e.g. people with learning disabilities, mental health needs and older people. Some of these people would have to enter residential care at much higher cost." So, they are proposing a "top up" Supporting People by a minimum amount of £4m resulting in a reduction of £8.6m over two years. They also say: "In order to manage this level of reduction, the Directorate will redefine Adult Social Care overall and also manage the risks going forward." Not sure what 'redefining' will mean in practice...
If you're reading this and it's making you worried about the services you receive please get in touch with us. We will try to find out what this might all mean in practice. We're a voluntary group of carers and service users here to give anyone in Manchester affected by mental illness some support. We're not professionals, but we will understand what you're going through. Get in touch any time by email or call Mary on 07816 754 032.
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