WIRRAL Council has frozen all “non-essential spend” as its council leader said things currently looked “quite dire” for the local authority. The update was given as councillors were asked to approve an extra £1.1m towards services for children with special needs.

At a policy and resources committee meeting on September 11, councillors approved the transfer £1.1m to support services this year as well as note an extra £2.8m likely needed going forward in budgets for future years. The funding will help double the size of the council’s team providing services for people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to improve things after a notice was issued by the government earlier this year.

The Department for Education published an improvement notice on May 15 ordering the local authority to take action due to “poor progress” in addressing ten areas of “significant concern” highlighted in a 2021 inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Wirral Council has been told it should have improved services by October 2025 or face possible government intervention to direct the council on how to improve services.

As well as improve services, the council continues to face increasing demand when it comes to SEND services. Assessments for education, health and care plans have tripled from 343 in 2019 to 1,091 in 2023.

Introducing the report asking councillors to transfer the money, director of finance Matthew Bennett, said the money had already been factored into a previous update on the council’s budget in July. This forecasted a budget overspend of £12.5m though measures put in place could reduce it to £3.8m.

SEND services are what is considered “essential” spending by the local authority. Essential spending, otherwise referred to as statutory services, also covers areas like adult and children's social care, two areas that make up a large proportion of the council’s budget.

The level of service provided can vary but these are services that have to be provided by law. However, Mr Bennett said that due to the council’s “very challenging position,” a spending freeze has been placed on non-statutory spending which do not have to be provided by law by Wirral Council.

This means the freeze does not apply to the money for SEND services but could affect services like garden waste collection, park maintenance, car parking, children’s centres, planning enforcement, and some leisure services like theatres and leisure centres will likely be affected by the freeze.

However, it will not apply to grant money given to the local authority by the government or the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. This includes money for regeneration projects in Birkenhead, Seacombe, New Ferry, and Liscard as well as other schemes like 20mph speed limits, new cycle lanes and walking routes.

In the meeting, Council leader Cllr Paul Start, asked if it was “prudent” to ask councillors for the money given the spending freeze, adding: “We know the forecast for this year is quite dire.” However, council officers reiterated the freeze did not apply to the services being funded on this occasion.

Councillors also said they were “disappointed” that the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, an NHS body, had not agreed to extra funding to support the council to cut waiting lists given the need to hire more staff for psychological assessments locally. The local authority has raised this with NHS England and the Department for Health after the ICB reportedly refused a request for funding.

Elsewhere during the meeting, the council said it would soon be launching a campaign to help thousands of pensioners on the Wirral better access pension credit through a new partnership with Policy in Practice. This follows a motion unanimously passed by councillors in December that said there could be more than £91m of unclaimed benefits in Wirral.