Wirral Council may have to make millions of pounds worth of cuts next year, despite taking a “strong step forward” since it was slammed in two government reports.
Last November, Wirral Council was slated in both reports into the local authority which included strong criticism of elected councillors and officers, stating the 'prevailing culture' at the council prior to the pandemic had been to avoid difficult financial decisions, meaning the council's emergency reserves have been dramatically reduced in recent years.
Following the reports, the council approved a package featuring nearly £20m worth of cuts in February, which included the authority withdrawing funding from Woodchurch Leisure Centre, nine libraries and two public golf courses. Even though there are ways local groups can secure the future of these services, the cuts have put their futures in doubt.
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Another move made after last year’s reports was the creation of an Independent Assurance Panel, made up of senior members of other councils as well as Wirral Council’s leader, the leader of the Conservative opposition and the council’s chief executive, to make sure the authority solved its major budget problems.
Its first report into the council’s progress, which panel members who are part of Wirral Council have not been involved in developing, has now been published and is largely positive for the authority, though some areas of concern remain. Speaking at tonight’s meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources Committee, Carolyn Downs, chair of the Independent Assurance Panel, wanted to acknowledge how far the council has come in the past six months.
She praised the council for agreeing to a budget in February, which approved a package featuring nearly £20m worth of cuts to balance the council’s books. Ms Downs said this was a “strong step forward”. The report prepared for this meeting said the council may face a budget deficit of around £14m for next year which it would need to make up, potentially through more cuts.
Given the current high inflation rate, Ms Downs said this may well be higher by the time next year’s budget is set. Looking at the politics of the council, which were criticised in last year’s government reports with councillors allegedly too focused on political point scoring at times, Ms Downs said mutual respect has been given to members regardless of political affiliation and this will be very important going forward.
Reacting to Ms Downs' comments, Cllr Janette Williamson, the Labour leader of Wirral Council, said she was positive but with a note of caution and that the authority was “not out of the woods yet”. She also praised the council for coming together to unanimously re-elect her as leader last month and hoped this would be a sign of better things to come.
Cllr Tom Anderson, leader of the council’s Conservative group, said Ms Downs' words were a fair and accurate reflection of where the council is at. He added the relationship between council officers and councillors had “drastically improved”, but recognised there were important challenges facing the council.
Green councillor Jo Bird put forward a motion asking officers to produce a report on paying all workers who deliver council services the real living wage, which is currently £9.90 per hour. She said this was needed given the pressures people were being put under due to the rising cost of living.
Shaer Halewood, Wirral Council’s director of resources, said previous analysis estimated this would cost the authority between £0.6m and £1.2m per year and Paul Satoor, Wirral Council’s chief executive, said making amendments which will have a detrimental effect on the budget could potentially affect how the authority gets treated by the government.
Cllr Williamson was unhappy that Cllr Bird’s amendment was brought forward at the last minute, without being distributed to councillors in advance, and accused her of using the committee to make a party political broadcast. Similarly, Cllr Anderson said the Green member was using the meeting as a “soapbox” and that there was nothing any of us would love more than to pay the real living wage, but it could have a massive impact on the future of council services.
But Green group leader Cllr Pat Cleary hit back, saying he was really disappointed in the way his colleague's amendment had been received. He added while members were entirely allowed to reject it, it was not an unreasonable request.
Cllr Cleary said what was unreasonable was the way some members had responded and that they should treat the issue with respect as Cllr Bird was only trying to get the report councillors had been promised in the past.
But Cllr Williamson said respect comes both ways and that Cllr Bird had tried to “hijack” the committee with her amendment and the lengthy and political preamble that came with it. Ultimately, Cllr Bird’s amendment was defeated with two Green members in favour and all other parties against.
