Wirral Council "much improved"

Wirral Council is in a “much improved” position and has “clearer vision for the organisation and the borough” according to the chair of a high-level panel put in place to oversee changes to the authority.

The Independent Assurance Panel (IAP), chaired by Carolyn Downs, included specialist advisors with significant local government experience including two Local Government Association peer representatives. 

Over the last two years they have had oversight of the council’s Improvement Programme designed to put the authority on a more secure footing and ensure it is moving in the right direction.

The decision of the Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) to stand down was announced at a meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources Committee on March 20.

In a letter confirming the Panel’s support to Wirral Council should end, its chair, Carolyn Downs said: “There have been significant improvements in the council over the period of the panel’s involvement.”

She highlighted how the Panel had seen “significant changes” including the authority swapping to all out elections once every four years and a streamlined committee system for decision-making by councillors.

Chief Executive of Wirral Council, Paul Satoor, said: 

The IAP had been asked by the authority to oversee its improvement in response to an External Assurance Review commissioned by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and published in November 2021. 

That External Assurance Review had been undertaken as a condition of the council’s request for exceptional financial support in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and the IAP was subsequently a part of the council’s move towards putting itself on a sustainable financial footing.

The Panel chair said that although Wirral Council had sought approval for £15.4million capitalisation from Government that it “only needed to utilise £12.4m”. She added that since then the “council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy represents good progress” and that “the council has produced a firm foundation from which to continue its work”.

In her final letter to council leadership, Ms Downs also noted Wirral “demonstrates real ambition” in its regeneration and housing programmes and “has been very successful in creating and designing schemes and then attracting supporting external funding”. 

She said that previously regeneration delivery “has been too slow” but identified that the council had moved to address this saying that in the past six months resources have been “mapped to prioritised schemes to speed up delivery”.

Other improvements at Wirral Council flagged by the IAP chair include:

• significantly improved cross party working
• reports to members which are clear, concise, and informative
• increased trust in officers from councillors
• a comprehensive approach to performance management

Ms Downs added that while the authority’s “budgetary situation remains very challenging, this is common to most councils and Wirral is now managing its budgetary position with competence”.

She added: “Whilst Wirral remains and will remain a challenging political environment, the council through its members and officers have worked well to improve the working environment and we congratulate them.”

The letter from the chair of the IAP, Carolyn Downs, in full:

Councillor Paul Stuart, Leader of the Council

Paul Satoor, Chief Executive

cc Councillor Jeff Green, Leader of the Conservative Group 

12th April 2024

Dear Councillor Stuart/Paul,

Wirral Independent Assurance Panel Final Report 

Following the meeting of the panel on19th March 2024 I write to confirm the decision of the panel that our support to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council should come to an immediate end.The Panel was appointed by the Council in November 2022. This was following the External Assurance review (Governance) completed by Ada Burns which was undertaken as a condition of the Capitalisation Directions totaling £15.4m for 2020/21 and 2021/22. The Local Government Association supported the Council to source the Panel members and draft the Terms of Reference and has been involved throughout the whole period of voluntary support.

The Panel members were Carolyn Downs (Chair), Richard Paver (Finance), Quentin Baker (Legal) until September 2023, Sean Hanson (Regeneration) until September 2023, Claire Hogan (LGA) and Councillors Shaun Davies (until September 2023), Mike Wilcox and Sir Steve Houghton (from September 2023) who acted as both panel members and as peer support to the Labour and Conservative Groups.

The Panel has met on thirteen occasions over the period of just over two years, though less frequently in the past year. During the time of the review the council has also had an LGA Corporate Peer Challenge (March 2022) a progress review (December 2022) and are due, this summer 2024, to have another corporate peer challenge.

The recommendations arising from the report by Ada Burns have all been implemented.

There have been significant improvements in the council over the period of the panel’s involvement. There have also been some significant changes in key personnel. All out, fouryear elections have been brought in and have taken place. The Committee system has been streamlined. The Monitoring Officer and the S151 Officer have both changed over the period. The Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Conservative Group both changed following the election in 2023.

Finance

The Panel commenced work during the latter stages of the preparation of the 2002/3 budget and provided support to ensure realistic proposals were considered to balance the budget and that due allowance was made for the likelihood that there would be slippage in delivery. The agreed budget was the first for 3 years not to require either a capitalisation direction or drawdown of general reserves. Subsequently budgets for both 2023/4 and 2024/5 have been agreed on a realistic basis, in terms of budget assumptions, retaining contingencies against risk and deliverability of savings. Whilst some use was made of earmarked reserves in supporting both initial budgets and also the delivery of outturn budgets, there has been no need to call on general reserves .

The Panel is in agreement with the S151 officer that General Reserves have been, and are currently, at too low a level and we support the need for these to be increased in the Medium Term Financial Strategy to around 5% of net spend. The Council will likewise need to recognise that available earmarked reserves have reduced over recent years and can no longer provide significant support for in year budget over spends. 

There has been no requirement to add to the capitalisation directions from 2020/21 and 2021/22, and indeed of the £15.4m approved by Government the Council only needed to utilise £12.4m as the outturn spend was less than projected when capitalisations were agreed. However, the Council has only been repaying the debt by way of the Minimum Revenue Provision over a 20-year period. Earlier proposals had been to utilise capital receipts for repayment over as short a period as possible and the merits of so doing should be revisited.

The Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy represents good progress to aligning its finances with the Council Strategy (Corporate Plan) and in identifying the ongoing need to deliver savings to produce balanced budgets. It further recognises that there are a number of significant financial risks around business rates retention and pension surpluses which have been incorporated in later years. There are clearly savings which remain to be identified and general risks around local authority funding and inflation, but the council has produced a firm foundation from which to continue its work.

Regeneration

Wirral Council has a very large regeneration and housing programme. The council demonstrates real ambition in this area and has been very successful in creating and designing schemes and then attracting supporting external funding. The Council also has some large and successful developers as partners. However, delivery to date has been too slow and only in the past six months have resources been mapped to prioritised schemes to speed up delivery. It is essential that confidence and pace in the delivery of the programme is increased. It is good to hear Councillors from opposing parties speaking with one voice in support of delivery and with this level of cooperation and collaboration, delivery should be enhanced.  The Council’s Director of Regeneration post needs to be recruited to as soon as possible and the Council needs to see greater involvement of corporate finance in the regeneration programme to ensure that everyone is working together across the council to deliver the programme.  

Governance and Leadership 

The political leadership of the Council in Wirral has been challenging for some years and political challenge intensified when the council first moved to no overall political control in 2019. However, over the past year we have seen significantly improved cross party working on financial and other matters that creates a working environment in which officers can best serve the council and deliver against political priorities. The Council operates the Committee system, and this has been streamlined over the past two years. More importantly, the senior management of the council is now presenting reports to members which are clear, concise, and informative which has not always been the case in the past. This has helped with speedier decision making and has resulted in increased trust in officers from Councillors. The Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Conservative group have worked well together in the interests of the council and the people of Wirral over the past year, and this has also made a significant improvement in decision making. This does not imply agreement on all issues but a maturity of relationships in the wider interest. Whilst Wirral remains and will remain a challenging political environment, the council through its members and officers have worked well to improve the working environment and we congratulate them.

Corporate Planning and Performance Management

The Council has a new Corporate Plan (2023 -2027) in place with clearer vision for the organisation and the borough and there is now an aligned Medium Term Financial Strategy. Crucially, the council has also developed a comprehensive approach to performance management through the creation of a credible performance management framework. A new system of quarterly reporting against the key outcomes in the corporate plan alongside budget monitoring on committee agendas has been adopted and will be embedded throughout the coming year.

Peer Support

Attached is a full resume of the peer support provided to members and senior officers from the Local Government Association. This has been a very comprehensive and well received programme of support which has aimed to engender a greater degree of trust between members of different parties and between members and officers. This has clearly been effective, and the Council has benefitted significantly.

Wirral Council now functions positively and in line with the sector norm. Members and Officers work well together, and all parties voted in February 2024 in support of the proposed budget for 2024/25. As noted, there is new Corporate Plan in place for three years agreed by the Council and supported by a Medium Term Financial Strategy. Whilst the budgetary situation remains very challenging, this is common to most councils and Wirral is now managing its budgetary position with competence and with trust between members and between members and officers which was not the case in 2022. Accordingly, the Panel is no longer required, and Wirral Council will continue to receive support from its peers and from the LGA like all other functional councils.

As highlighted above the Council, however, does need to continue to actively manage and deliver its regeneration programme which is very large in ambition. The people of Wirral need see and recognise significant change on the ground that also represents good value for money. Additionally, the Council must continue to invest in the development of Members and Officers and the constructive collaboration between them and needs to ensure that the corporate core of the Council continues to be developed in order to ensure that the focus on improvement and ongoing transformation is maintained. The LGA will provide support in this respect.

I would be grateful if this letter could be circulated to all members of the council.

We thank all the members and officers of the Council for their welcome, inclusivity and hard work which has led to this much improved position, and we wish the council well for the future. 

Your sincerely

Carolyn Downs

Panel Chair