Wirral Council Budget Update – November 2025

Wirral Council faces a £10 million shortfall in its budget this year and unless urgent action is taken faces a further £67million gap over the next three years.

Two finance reports are due to be presented to members of Wirral Council’s Policy and Resources (P&R) Committee on November 19, one a Pre Budget report outlining forecast budget gaps over the next three years and a “Revenue Budget Monitoring” report which outlines the council’s current financial position.

The 2025/26 Revenue Budget Monitoring For Quarter Two (The Period To 30 September 2025) report highlights that the current budget position of the council is a predicted potential overspend of £10.538 million across its budgets.

It says that the current financial year 2025/26 includes challenging savings targets for the council made more difficult due to increasing demands in social care and says budgets will need to be “rigorously managed, with difficult decisions required” to ensure a balanced financial position is achieved.

The Pre Budget report to be presented to members of the P&R Committee further outlines the extent of the £67 million budget budget gap being faced by the authority, of which £32m will fall next year, 2026/27 based on the latest information.

It says urgent action is required to address this to ensure balanced budgets in the coming years and outlines how the council will build on intensive work already underway to address the budget shortfall.

The Pre Budget report says that over the coming weeks budget workshops will be continuing to scrutinise the budget situation and look at the options to address the current position.

The workshops are aligned with the individual committees of elected members which oversee the various areas of council activities.

Each Committee, via the budget workshops, will then be accountable for identifying, developing and agreeing deliverable savings proposals to close the current the 2025/26 budget gap and ensure a draft balanced budget for next year can be considered by the Policy & Resources Committee.

To support the delivery of future savings, strategic transformation themes have been identified to address medium- to long-term challenges and enable the Council to reshape services in a way that is both efficient and resilient. The themes are:

• Transport Services encompassing fleet management, depot rationalisation and service delivery models in Adults and Children’s Services;
• Housing- focused on addressing housing demand and supply challenges across the Borough;
• Strategic Commissioning- involving a comprehensive review of all commissioned services and major procurement;
• Digital Transformation – this seeks to implement AI and reengineer business processes to streamline operations;
• Asset Strategy which includes the development of a corporate landlord model, asset disposal plans, and optimisation of the commercial property portfolio.
• • The SEND Improvement Programme seeks to deliver a number of initiatives to improve services for young people and families, ensuring that they can access the right level of support, guidance, or assistance at the right time.

The Pre Budget Report and the 2025/26 Revenue Budget Monitoring For Quarter Two (The Period To 30 September 2025) Report will be presented to members of the Policy and Resources Committee when they meet at Wallasey Town Hall on November 19. The agenda for this meeting is on the council website which includes link to the live webcast of the meeting’s proceedings. This stream is also archived for access afterwards.