An MHK has criticised the DHSC for its response to questions about Manx Care’s budget.
Former health minister Lawrie Hooper had asked his successor Claire Christian what the Manx Care forecast financial outturn was as part of the budget process for 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25; and what Manx Care’s allocated budget and actual spend were for each of those years?
However, the reply he received, which showed that over the past three years, Manx Care has overspent by a total of £93.4m, Mr Hooper says wasn’t the one he wanted.
In October, he was one of several MHKs to call out this funding which was moved over to Manx Care as extra on top of its budget.
The Truth?
The issue surrounds Manx Care’s overspend and the 2025 Budget and why Manx Care was given an extra £4m just days after Tynwald approved its budget.
However, this £4m was supposed to be separate from the mandated budget awarded to Manx Care, with Ms Christian previously saying it was “retained by the department by way of restating a contingency budget for Manx Care”.
She later added: “The funding bid, as I mentioned earlier, was over. The £357m, so the £4.3m would be going towards the mandate and the operating plan, so that it’s not additional services in any way it’s included within that.”
Essentially, it never was a contingency fund, it was part of the mandate, but put in a different column.
Forecasting
Mr Hooper said on his Facebook page that Ms Christian has “refused to publish the Manx Care budget forecasts which is what I asked for Ie – what did they tell the Treasury and the Government the Mandate would cost”.
He added: “This is what matters – if you tell someone to go and build an extension, they tell you it’s going to cost £120k but you only propose to give them £80k but don’t change your requirements, you can’t blame them for them building what you asked for at the price they quoted
“The fact the Minister has tried to dodge the question means she knows this – but doesn’t want to admit it because it seriously undermines the narrative her and the Chief Minister have been trying to build.
“Manx Care aren’t the problem – Treasury and the politicians are.”
Also Read
You can read more on our coverage of Manx Care and its finances here.