Treasury Minister Chris Thomas has declared a “new era” of financial discipline for Manx Care, warning that the health board must stick to its £404m mandate after years of overspending.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Thomas said previous political attempts to challenge the board had been blocked.
“When I read things like ‘I fully agree with your sentiments around budgetary control and financial discipline, but I would also add that we must maintain confidence for now in the board of Manx Care as an arm’s length body’,” Mr Thomas said, quoting correspondence he had seen from a previous Health Minister to a former Treasury Minister.
“Looking back, it was correspondence I’ve seen from the Health Care Minister to the Treasury Minister just to say the time wasn’t right.”
The Minister added: “Perhaps the tools were always there. Now there has to be the political will there.”
Over Budget
Chief Financial Officer Caldric Randall confirmed Manx Care would not come in on budget for the current financial year 2025-26.
“Unfortunately we’d have to say that jury is out on that one,” Mr Randall said. “There will be a requirement for a supplementary vote for 2025-26.”
However, for the coming financial year from April 2026, Mr Thomas said the board had publicly committed to its mandate.
“The Manx Care board has made a commitment to stick in public to stick within the mandate,” he said.
The minister warned that service reductions would follow if spending was not controlled, revealing his own personal experience of the impact.
“I’m a beneficiary of having a disabled child and we’ve had respite over the years. Respite for people at Hospice is not being classified as a core service,” Mr Thomas said.
“I’ve had the letter like many other Manx people to say you won’t be getting any respite. That’s the consequence. There’ll be lots of people getting that sort of letter.”
Mr Randall said a financial recovery programme was now in place within the Department of Health and Social Care, with Treasury funding dedicated resources to improve financial governance and monthly scrutiny panels monitoring performance.