Redundancies, a review of bin collections and the transfer of leisure centres are among a raft of options being looked at by Wirral Council as it looks to plug a £32 million hole in its budget.
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.
It says 1,000 more people are receiving adult social care 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.
Options worth £15 million have been identified – but this still leaves a gap of £17 million.
Options under discussion for next year include reviewing “the current residual waste collection arrangements to determine the most effective approach” as well as “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”.
The council also plans to review:
- The assisted travel scheme for 2,200 school pupils with additional needs
- The minimum income guarantee for people who contribute towards the cost of adult social care
The council also wants to make savings by reducing the number of children in residential care including by increasing the number of foster carers, turning libraries into community hubs and reducing housing benefit subsidies through homelessness prevention and a more strategic approach to temporary accommodation.
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 council has twice in recent years been given permission to borrow money from the government – a process known as capitalisation – in order to balance its books, with the money paid back in future years.
Councillors will discuss the budget at a meeting on Wednesday 17 December.
