Manchester City Council, has recently commissioned Enventure Research to undertake a programme of qualitative research with its residents to support a wider public consultation undertaken at the end of 2016.
Over the past five years, Manchester City Council has had to make decisions on how it manages with a smaller budget whilst still delivering high quality services to residents. As a result of government cuts, the Council is having to make decisions about how it manages its budget and delivers further savings.
The consultation in 2016 took the form of an online and paper survey to involve residents and encourage them to have a say in how savings could be made. The Council had drawn up a large list of possible options for making these savings and wanted to understand the impact they would have on individuals and their community.
To support the consultation findings, the Council also wishes to undertake qualitative research with residents to explore some of their concerns in greater depth. Enventure Research will therefore moderate a series of three focus groups with a representative selection of Manchester residents. Each group will consider a number of different service areas which could be affected, being led in their discussions by an experienced researcher who will follow a specially designed discussion guide.
The results will help the Council understand the consultation findings in greater depth and inform its future decision making.