“83% of people in Greater Manchester recognise the Mayor.” The figure comes from the government’s English Devolution White Paper, published in December 2024, which uses the city region as its model of how devolution can work.
Andy Burnham has held that mayoral office, and he has used it to argue for more local control. In June 2022 he went to HOST, a skills and technology center in Salford, to set out plans for devolving the whole post-19 skills system. He wanted one funding pot for post-19 education and skills, an end to budget ringfences, more say over technical education for 16-19 year-olds and a joined-up careers service for all ages. “Devolution can open that door, helping us unlock new opportunities for our residents, our communities and our businesses,” he said.
What the region already runs
Greater Manchester has handled the Adult Education Budget since August 2019, and the Work & Health Programme before that. One local scheme, a digital bootcamps pilot, enrolled 585 people. Of those, 508 finished and 279 moved into skilled digital jobs. The Department for Education took the model national.
The framework around it
The 2024 white paper sorts English local bodies into two tiers. Foundation Strategic Authorities have no mayor. Mayoral Strategic Authorities, a group that includes the Greater London Authority and every mayoral combined authority, do. A few of the mayoral ones can move up to “Established” status. The default size for any of them is a combined population of 1.5 million or above.
Mayors under this system gain powers over housing and planning, including a London-style ability to charge developer levies. They get a statutory role in rail, quicker routes to bring buses under public control, and joint ownership of Local Skills Improvement Plans. Decisions on most functions will need a majority vote that includes the mayor, ending the old unanimity requirement.
Greater Manchester is one of six authorities set to receive an Integrated Settlement, a single funding package spanning housing, regeneration, transport, skills and employment support. The paper puts current devolution coverage at 61% of England’s population, or 34 million people, and still calls England “among the most centralised countries in the developed world.”
Burnham’s agenda in 2026
The Institute for Government kept watching the topic through 2026. On July 31 it called Burnham’s devolution announcement “a strong start on his priority agenda.”
Sources
- English Devolution White Paper: Power and partnership
- Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham outlines ambitious proposals for further devolution of skills in city-region
- Devolution to England
