Wirral Council audit report published

Every year auditors examine how Councils are managing their finances and make a report with their assessment so that people can see how their money is being spent.

This year Wirral Council is facing significant difficulty in ensuring it keeps within its budget – balancing significantly rising cost of continuing to deliver services against the amount received from Government grants, council tax and other income such as fees.

Halfway through the financial year it was reported to the authority’s Policy and Resources Committee the council is facing a major budget gap of more than £20million.

Now the Council’s external auditors – Grant Thornton – have completed the Council’s audit (known as the 2023-24 Statutory Accounts) and as part of this process they undertook a Value for Money audit. This is where the auditors take a closer look if the authority has made the best use of resources available. 

The auditors found that Wirral Council is facing “an extremely challenging financial situation” and that there is a risk it will need extra support from the Government to balance its budget.

Following this the auditors made a Statutory Recommendation which is intended to help the Council to manage this financial pressure, including making extra efficiencies and savings and addressing the pressures in social care.

When auditors make a Statutory Recommendation this must be reported to the Government and be considered by a meeting of the full council. This Extraordinary Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, 14th January 2025 at 6pm.

Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paul Stuart, said: “The council is developing a Budget Recovery Action Plan, implementing detailed and stringent measures to address the financial challenges. However, the fundamental issue remains: years of underfunding and the rising costs and demand for social care services have outstripped available funding, necessitating major changes in operations, including some very difficult and unwanted decisions to ensure the council can provide its statutory services and look after and take care of our most vulnerable residents. 

“The council is facing a perfect storm of massively increased demand and costs for social care services, exacerbated by significant past reductions in Government funding and current uncertainties around future financial settlements. 

“While I acknowledge the Value for Money audit highlights several areas for improvement in financial management, the reality is that, regardless of efforts, there has not been – and still is not – enough money to maintain services as they were.”

The Council has put in place a number of measures this year to try to reduce the budget pressures but these have not been enough to address the increasing demand, which has been particularly difficult in Adult Social Care.  

As a result the Council has approached the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) for Exceptional Financial Support for the 24/25 financial year to protect the remaining reserves that the Council holds. 

The agenda for the meeting is on the council website and includes the full report from the auditors which can be read here.