Devolution

Greater Manchester's councils have a long history of working together. This record of co-operation led to the creation of the GMCA and helped Greater Manchester lead the way on city-region devolution with a statutory city region pilot in 2009. The 2014 Devolution Agreement with Government gives the region additional powers, and greater accountability through an elected mayor. The mayor chairs the GMCA and was first elected by Greater Manchester voters in May 2017.

Subsequent deals built upon this innovative agreement, including a £6 billion health and social care devolution deal in February 2015. Since then, there have been  further deals that have brought new powers and responsibilities to the city region. Full information on these can be found on the Gov.uk website (link opens in a new window).

Devolution Deals

Greater Manchester's Seven Devolution Deals (PDF, 891KB)

Deal Zero (Agreed December 2009)

Statutory City Region Pilot created covering transport, total place public services, employment programme, housing and planning, low carbon, inward investment and innovation, and post-16 skills.

The Manchester Statutory City Region report (PDF, 96KB)

Deal One (Agreed November 2014)

Agreement to have an elected mayor who will fulfil role of Police and Crime Commissioner. Powers cover transport business support, employment and skills support, spatial planning, house investment, earnback and governance reforms.

Greater Manchester Agreement: devolution to the GMCA & transition to a directly elected mayor (link opens in new window)

Deal 2 (Agreed February 2015)

Bringing together health and social care budgets – £6 billion – to deliver better outcomes for Greater Manchester. Followed up by agreement in late 2015 for a £450 million Health and Social Care Transformation Fund.

Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Devolution (link opens in new window)

Deal 3 (Agreed July 2015)

Included fundamental review of service for children, creation of a Greater Manchester Land Commission, transfer of Fire and Rescue responsibilities to the Greater Manchester Mayor.

Further devolution to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and directly-elected Mayor (link opens in new window)

Deal 4 (Agreed November 2015)

Included further transport devolution (including looking at options for control of rail stations), social housing
reform, and control over EU funding.

Further devolution to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and directly-elected Mayor (link opens in new window)

Deal 5 (Agreed March 2016)

Included establishment of GM Life Chances Fund, Criminal Justice Devolution, and piloting of 100% business rates retention.

Further devolution to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and directly-elected Mayor (link opens in new window)

Deal 6 (Agreed November 2017)

Included local industrial strategy pilot, homelessness funding, transforming cities funding, post-16 education and training, and Mayoral capacity funding.

Greater Manchester Autumn Budget 2017 Update: Further commitments between Government and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the directly elected mayor (link opens in external window)

New powers

Through these devolution agreements, the region has more powers and control over budgets, including: 

• more control of local transport, with a long-term government budget to help us plan a more modern, better-connected network
• new planning powers to encourage regeneration and development
• a new £300 million fund for housing: enough for an extra 15,000 new homes over ten years
• extra funding to get up to 50,000 people back into work
• incentives to skills providers to develop more work-related training
• extra budget to support and develop local businesses
• the mayor taking on the powers of a Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner, with oversight of both GMP and GMFRS.
• control of investment through a new 'earn back' funding arrangement which gives us extra money for the region's infrastructure if we reach certain levels of economic growth