Manchester City Council had been considering plans to merge its youth and play budgets, worth a combined £4.98m, before reducing it by £2.17m over the next two years, putting services for vulnerable young people at risk of closure.
The reduction would have seen the youth service budget alone fall by £1.7m in 2015/16.
However, Ross Grant, development manager at Voluntary Youth Manchester, expects the authority to reduce the amount it cuts from the fund by using part of an £11m interim dividend from its stake in Manchester Airport to support the delivery of voluntary youth services.
The council has announced that, of the £11m, £9m will be used to offset the impact of cuts to services over the next year, reducing them from £59m to £50m, with the remaining £2m being used to support the 2016/17 budget.
Grant told CYP Now that he attended a Manchester City Council meeting on Thursday morning, where council leader Sir Richard Leese said he was “minded” to invest £737,000 of airport payout money into the youth and play budget.
If the plans, which are subject to public consultation, are approved, Grant understands that the combined youth and play budgets would be reduced by £1.3m next year, rather than the proposed £2.17m over the next two years.
Grant, who in December urged the authority to reconsider its plans to cut the youth budget, has welcomed the news but thinks more can be done to protect the funding.
He said: “The battle isn’t won. We’re winning the argument but until it’s signed, sealed and delivered we still have to encourage them in the direction of the proposal they are now making.
“Our voice has been heard, what we need to make sure now is that young people have an opportunity to influence the approach of the council to the services in the city.”
The authority is yet to finalise the plans, but councillor Rosa Battle, executive member for culture and leisure at Manchester City Council, said: "The extra money we've just received through our stake in Manchester Airport has allowed us to look again at the budget options we announced in November.
"Instead therefore of cutting the broader youth budget by £1.737 million, we're now proposing to make savings of only £1 million.
"While these are still only proposals, this would mean that we will continue to commission youth and play provision across the city – which against a backdrop of savage cutbacks having to be made across the council is clearly welcome."
The consultation on the revised proposals will close on 1 February.
Manchester City Council owns a 35.5 per cent stake in Manchester Airport, with nine other councils in Greater Manchester also owning a 29 per cent stake.
