'Bad news' for area after late bills could leave area £700,000 worse off

Wirral Council could face having to fork out more than £700,000 in interest for not paying bills on time. The latest figures are an increase of 12,146% on the previous year.

After regulations over public contracts became law in 2015, councils have to publish data on how good they are at paying invoices on time within 30 days. Between April 2016 and March 2023, the council paid almost all of its invoices on time at a rate of 97% or above.

However this has seen a significant drop of nearly 20% in the last financial year that finished in March 2024. This showed only 78.24% of invoices were paid within 30 days.

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Due to the legal breaches, this could see the council having to pay £704,312,03 to businesses and other organisations it didn’t pay on time. However the amount paid to suppliers so far is significantly smaller with only £449.14 paid, notably less than the £4,662.70 paid out between April 2022 and March 2023.

Concerns are being raised about the late payments by the local authority’s Liberal Democrats. A motion put forward by councillors Stuart Kelly and Phil Gilchrist called for the council to take action, warning tax payers "could end up footing the bill for system failures.”

They also said it was “bad news” for small and medium sized businesses who “often run very tight margins and may struggle to survive due to unpaid bills.” They are asking councillors to request the local authority’s Director of Finance Matthew Bennett outline the steps being taken to address the issues and reduce any potential liability.

Cllr Kelly told the ECHO: “The council exposes itself to the risk of having to pay interest on overdue accounts. I know I can think of better ways of spending £700,000 of council tax payers money. This needs to improve to reduce the risk of small businesses failing due to cashflow and to prevent any avoidable waste of council tax money.”

The motion will be up for debate at the next full council meeting of all councillors on December 2. Three other motions have been put forward by the other political parties on Wirral.

Labour, the largest in the local authority, is asking for leader Cllr Paul Stuart, and education committee chair Cllr Stephen Bennett to write to the government asking it “to take decisive action” and “show bold leadership” on tackling SEND service issues nationwide.

This is off the back of a National Audit Office report that found 43% of councils were at risk of declaring bankruptcy as a result of high needs costs by 2026 with councils across England possibly needing to find £5bn that year. Councils were allowed to keep costs relating to special needs education off the books since 2020 under the previous Conservative government but this now could leave Wirral facing an extra £41m bill in March 2026.

Labour councillors Steve Bennett and Paula Basnett said the report showed “the previous Conservative government failed these children and their families. In contrast, the new Labour government is committed to addressing these concerns.” The Local Government Association has called on the current government to write off any overspends.

In their motion, the Conservatives are calling on the council to back Wirral’s farmers, referring to recent government changes to inheritance tax relief on agricultural properties it said will make things fairer. BBC Verify estimates the number of farms to be affected each year is around 500, similar to the government’s own figures though these are heavily disputed.

Conservative councillors Vida Wilson and Jeff Green said it was “a shameful betrayal and let down farmers by breaking their promise not to introduce a family farm tax,” arguing it would make it difficult for farmers to pass on their farms to their children and make producing food in Britain harder.

They are asking Labour council leader Cllr Paul Stuart to write to the government criticising the decision, get Chief Executive Paul Satoor to write to all Wirral farmers, and Mayor Cllr Cherry Povall sign a petition by the National Farmers Union. They said: “At a time when many farmers in Wirral are struggling with soaring costs and energy prices, this sudden tax rise will damage the future of their farms.”

Wirral’s Green Party have put forward a motion asking the council to reaffirm its declaration of a climate emergency in 2019, declare an emergency over nature and biodiversity and ask the council’s environment committee to produce an action plan.