Social care funding is boosted by £5m grant

Abdul Jabbar

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AN additional £5.095million funding for adult social care has been allocated to Oldham Council for 2017/18, cabinet members confirmed yesterday.

The funding is part of a £9.883million grant over three years to 2019/20 announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in his Spring budget.

The grant is one of several new allocated additional sources of revenue for the council since the 2017/18 budget was set on March 1.

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, deputy leader of Oldham Council and Cabinet member for finance and HR, said: "Since the budget was approved we have had a number of notifications of grants to the council which obviously we welcome.

"But we would have welcomed them even more if we had been notified of them before the budget was finalised for the year. Nevertheless, we are always grateful to have the resources."

Councillor Shoab Akhtar, Cabinet member for employment and skills, also welcomed the additional funding, but he described it as "peanuts" compared to the amounts taken from Oldham's budgets in the past.

He said: "Yes, we have this extra money, but it is nowhere near enough to cover what is required in Oldham and considering what has been taken out of Oldham already, it is just peanuts basically.

"Obviously we need more resources next year and moving forward otherwise we will have to cut back on some of the services we can provide."

Other funding includes £219,000 over two years in a Homelessness Support Grant; £0.696millon Discretionary Housing Payment Grant; and a Business Rates Discretionary Relief grant of £510,000 over four years to assist local businesses disproportionately disadvantaged by the 2017 Business Rates Revaluation.

Capital grants were also noted by cabinet members, including a Highways England grant of £500,000 for the Foxdenton Development; a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities grant of £500,000 for three years, and a £6million allocation from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for the Local Growth Fund 3 and National Productivity Investment Fund over four years.