Christmas and New Year - council services and support

Wirral Council has confirmed details of festive opening hours for key services.

Some areas of work will shut down, with others offering limited opening hours, over the festive period meaning that some services will be unavailable at that time.

Many services can still be requested through the council website, but may not receive attention until Thursday 2 January 2025.

Details of opening hours for various services, attractions and more are outlined below:

Adult social services

Adult Social Care operates through the Christmas period. If you require support or have an urgent need relating to Adult Social Care in Wirral between 9am and 5pm on 27, 30 or 31 December, please contact the Central Advice and Duty Team on 0151 514 2222 and press option 3. If you are calling after 5pm, or on any of the days not listed above, and if your enquiry is urgent, please contact the Emergency Duty Team on 0151 677 6557.

Archives

Wirral Archives Service will close at 4.30 pm on Tuesday 24 December and will re-open at 10am on Thursday 2 January 2025.

Bin collections

If your green and grey bin day is Wednesday or Thursday, there are some day changes to be aware of this Christmas and New Year.

• Christmas Day is on Wednesday 25 December – bins due then will instead be collected on Saturday 21 December
• Boxing Day is Thursday 26 December – those bins will instead be collected on Sunday 22 December
• New Year’s Day is Wednesday 1 January 2024. Those bins will instead be collected on Saturday 28 December 2024

Brown bin collections pause from 20 December and restart on 21 January 2024.

Birkenhead Market

Birkenhead Market will be open on the Sunday before Christmas again this year - Sunday 22 December - from 10am to 4am. Between Christmas and New Year it will be open between 27 and 30 December, 9am-5pm and will reopen in 2025 on 2 January at 9am.

Carers' support

This time of year can bring up a lot of emotions and stresses. Mobilise has issued some advice for carers over Christmas - Support for carers this Christmas. For Carers in Wirral there is also support provided in the Hub - and people can still book 1-2-1 calls in the lead up to Christmas and after it is over if they might need it.

Children Centres / Family Hubs

• Seacombe Family Hub – open 9am-5pm, 27, 30 and 31 December
• Equilibrium: Closed week beginning 23 December, Open 10am-2pm on 30 and 31 December.
• Brassey and Bromborough and St James: Closed from 24 December until 2 January 2025
• Koala Northwest: Closed from 23 December until 2 January 2025.

All school-based hubs will be closed for the school holidays.

Children's Services

If you’re worried about a child over Christmas and New Year, call the Integrated Front Door on 0151 606 2008 and select option 2, open 9am to 5pm excluding weekends and bank holidays. Out of hours, you can call the Emergency Duty Team on 0151 677 6557. If a child, or anyone else, is at risk of immediate harm, dial 999.

Council Tax and benefits support

Customer service lines will close at 5pm on 24 December. They will reopen between 10am and 4pm on 27, 30 and 31 December for emergency financial support and Foodbank vouchers only. Reopen as normal from 2 January 2025.

Crime and safety

Report any crimes or suspicious behaviour via @MerPolCC, 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111. In an emergency always call 999.

Culture

The Floral Pavilion

Floral Pavilion Theatre: Closed 25 December and 1 January 2025. This year’s pantomime, The Further Adventures of Peter Pan – the Return of Captain Hook, is running until Sunday 5 January 2025. 

Visit the Floral Pavilion website for tickets and more details

Floral Box Office: Telephone line open 23, 24, 27, 28 and 31 December, 10am to 4pm. Counter open 23 and 24 December, midday to 4pm. 26, 29 and 30 December, 11.30am to 5.15pm. 27, 28 and 31 December midday to 5.15pm. Closed 25 December and 1 January.

Floral café: Closed on 25 December and 1 January 2025. 24 December, open 9.30am to 4pm (food served until 3pm). 26 and 31 December, open 9.30am to 5pm (food served until 3pm).

Williamson Art Gallery and Museum 

Closes: 5pm on Saturday 21 December, reopens 10am on Wednesday 12 February 2025.

Birkenhead Priory

Closes: 4pm on Sunday 22 December, reopens at midday on Wednesday 12 February 2025.

Courtyard Café, Royden Park

Closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Open as normal on other days.

Domestic abuse and family support

Help is available for anyone experiencing domestic abuse or family issues over Christmas and New Year.

Details of the support on offer locally can be found at the #ItsNeverOK website

Gritting and winter services

Gritting teams will be on standby 24/7 every day until Spring 2024, including over the festive period.

Highways and street services

Please call 0151 647 7810 to report an out-of-hours emergency relating to:

• trees
• road and pavement maintenance and repairs
• road signs
• traffic management
• traffic signal faults
• fly tipping
• highway drainage and flooding
• dangerous buildings and structures

Homeless and Housing

The Housing Options Team will be operating an emergency-only triage service on 27, 30 and 31 December. This service will operate from 9am to 5pm.

Outside of these times/dates and during weekends and public holidays, in an emergency situation, where a household has nowhere safe to stay that night, they should contact the Emergency Duty Team on 0151 677 6557.

If you need housing advice and it isn’t urgent you can make a self-referral to the Housing Options Team via the Wirral Council website.

If you, or anyone you know, sees someone who is sleeping rough then time is of the essence. Please make a referral via rsiteam@birkenheadymca.co.uk or 07821 125119 as soon as possible. This will ensure Wirral’s local outreach team will be able to respond and send staff to engage with the person and offer appropriate support.  

Leisure

Invigor8 leisure centres

• Closed: 25 and 26 December and 1 January 2025
• Closes at 4pm (last admittance 3.30pm) on 24 and 31 December, except for Leasowe which closes at 3pm, last admittance 2.30pm
• Open: As normal on 27-30 December and 2 January 2025.

Woodchurch Community Football Hub

• Closed: 24-26 December, 31 December and 1 January 2025
• Open: 27-30 December

Municipal golf courses

• Closed: 25 and 26 December and 1 January 2025
• Open: As normal on 24 December, 27-31 December and 2 January 2025

Wirral Watersports Centre

• Closed: From 25 December until 1 January 2025
• Open as normal on 24 December and 2 January 2025

All leisure activities are subject to change and customers are advised to check the Active Wirral website for any updates to the schedule

Libraries

• All Wirral libraries will be open as normal until Monday 23 December. 
• Tuesday 24 December libraries will close at 5.00pm (West Kirby will close at 4.00pm)
• Libraries will then be closed until Thursday 2 January 2025

Even while libraries are closed there is a great selection of e-books, e-audio, e-magazines and e-newspapers to access over the holiday period. You will need an active borrower number and pin to access, if you don’t already have a membership pop into any Wirral Library or join online. Online membership will generate a temporary membership number and pin for three weeks to enable access to e-books, e-audio and e-newspaper services.

Registrars

The Registrar service will be closed 25, 26 and 27 and 1 January 2025. It will be open 30 and 31 December 9am – 4pm for death registrations only.  Other days, it is open as normal.

Social media

The council’s social media accounts will not be routinely monitored over the festive period. You might see some key messages posted on those channels, most of which will have been pre-scheduled, but there will be no-one online to reply to queries. The best place to report issues is the Wirral Council website.

Wirral Infobank

The Wirral Infobank website contains lots of information about the support available in communities across Wirral.