Wirral Council Budget Update
An urgent need to tackle a continuing gap between the council’s income and the cost of providing services in Wirral means preparations must be made for major savings including potential redundancies.
Wirral Council is currently seeking to set its budget for 2026-27 against a background of persistent financial pressures.
A report prepared for councillors says that the council continues to face significant financial challenges driven by rising demand, inflationary costs, and the long-term impact of reduced Government funding.
A key area of concern for the budget is Adult Social Care which continues to see demand increasing sharply with over 1,000 more people receiving of support compared to two years ago while the complexity of caring for older adults, individuals with disabilities, and those with mental health needs grows. The report also says hospital discharge requirements are further adding pressure on community-based care and reablement services.
Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paula Basnett, said:
This has been a tough year for the council, but I have been clear since becoming leader earlier in the summer, we are here to fix the problems we have inherited, whether that was cost overruns and flagging regeneration efforts or dealing with the budget problems which have dogged this council for too long.
We will have to make some major changes to what the council does and how it does them and we are not afraid of taking the action needed, but this is against a backdrop of many years of cuts in funding to local government and we will also be making our case plainly to ministers that they need to help us help ourselves.
The Pre-Budget Report presented to Policy & Resources Committee in November 2025 identified a forecast budget gap of £32.4m for 2026/27, with a total of £67m estimated for the next three years based on “unavoidable cost growth and uncertainty around future funding settlements [from Central Government]”.
A number of budget workshops, which were aligned with the committees of elected members which oversee the various areas of council’s services, have scrutinised the budget situation and options to address the position. The areas currently under review that may present opportunities for savings include:
- Day Services: Aim is to create services that promote choice, independence, and dignity, informed by extensive co-production with residents, carers, and service users.
- Minimum Income Guarantee: This provides a financial safety net to ensure individuals retain a basic level of income for essential living costs after contributing to non-residential care and the review aims to balance affordability with fairness.
- Assisted Travel: Currently 2,200 pupils currently rely on council-provided transport (costing £12.5 million in 2024/25 and projected to rise in future). The goal is to maintain statutory responsibilities while creating a financially sustainable service that meets the needs of those who require the most support.
- Children’s Care Costs: Continued implementation of the care improvement programme, which monitors and reviews all placements of children in residential care, means numbers are expected to reduce significantly, generating substantial savings. To further reduce reliance on residential care, investment in fostering capacity is essential.
- Domestic Refuse (bin) Collection: To align with national legislation the Council will review the current residual waste collection arrangements to determine the most effective approach to ensure, like all councils, it introduces weekly food waste collections and expands dry recycling (grey bin) services in 2026.
- Leisure and Gallery service: Alternative delivery models for the non-statutory Leisure and Museums Services to improve financial sustainability and governance while safeguarding the borough’s leisure, cultural and heritage assets are being looked at.
- Housing Growth: The Council is developing a Housing Growth Strategy which initially will focus on reducing the cost of housing benefit subsidies through a strategic approach to temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention and longer emphasis on driving economic growth aligned with regeneration and housing strategies.
- Policy Reviews: An action from the Budget Task and Finish Group to conduct a Policy Review. This review will examine all Council policies that have a financial impact.
- Community Hubs: There will be a focused review to ensure libraries remain central to community life and continue to deliver value within the Council’s budget framework as part of a future Community Hub Offer.
- Other savings: A mix of proposals that can be implemented immediately, full details of which will be set out in the February budget report.
However, even with savings from these budget workshops, which are estimated to be worth around £15 million (subject to checks) a significant shortfall will still remain against the £32.4 million budget gap for the coming year, with the deficit likely to be in the region of £17 million.
Work will continue to develop the savings options and it is expected this may include a risk of employee job losses. This means it will be important to work in partnership with trade unions on consulting and mitigating where possible the effects of potential compulsory loss of employment. The Council’s voluntary redundancy scheme also remains open.
The update on the budget can be read here[LINK] and is on the agenda (available here in full) of Wirral Council’s Policy and Resources Committee which is due to meet at Wallasey town hall on Wednesday, 17 December.
