Total Council Tax requirements 2026/27
| Wirral Council | £450,915,868 |
Levies
| Transport | £24,584,567 |
| Waste Authority | £19,280,706 |
| Flood Defence | £206,263 |
| Port Health | £130,267 |
| Sea Fisheries | £104,630 |
Total for Levies |
£44,306,432 |
Precepts
| Police & Crime Commissioner | £29,628,060 |
| Fire & Rescue | £10,204,582 |
| Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | £2,418,864 |
Total for Precepts |
£42,251,506 |
Total requirement |
£537,473,806 |
Less revenue sources
Business Rates income |
(£75,237,985) |
Business Rates S31 |
(£23,196,821) |
Top Up |
(£135,168,328) |
Capital Receipts |
(£2,600,000) |
Collection Fund (surplus) / deficit |
(£3,981,339) |
| Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging | (£6,149,389) |
| Recovery Grant | (£9,758,226) |
| Children, Families and Youth Grant | (£5,907,090) |
| Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse | (£3,214,837) |
| Recovery Grant Guarantee | (£7,033,922) |
| Recovery Grant Uplift | (£5,529,460) |
| Adjustment Support Grant | (£101,843) |
| LCR Mayoral Fund | (£1,600,000) |
| Capitalisation Directive | (£5,969,690) |
Total External Support |
(£285,448,930) |
Net Requirement |
£252,024,876 |
| Tax Base Band D (equivalent properties) | 100,786.00 |
| Council Tax for Band D | 2,500.59 |
How spending has changed
| Budget Requirement 2025-26 | £444.7 million |
Increased pressures
| Levies and Precepts | £4.29 million |
| Employees | -£0.42 million |
| Other Running Costs | £14.58 million |
| Regeneration & Place | £2.02 million |
| Finance and Cross-cutting Efficiencies | £2.59 million |
| Law & Corporate Services | £0.05 million |
| Neighbourhoods | £4.97 million |
| Children & Families | £7.13 million |
| Adult Care & Health | £25.99 million |
Savings and Efficiencies
| Neighbourhoods | £1.21 million |
| Regeneration & Place | £0.84 million |
| Children & Families | £3.13 million |
| Adult Care & Health | £2.81 million |
| Law & Corporate Services | £0.48 million |
| Finance and Cross-cutting Efficiencies | £2.21 million |
Budget Requirement 2026-27 |
£495.22 million |
How the council spends its own money (in gross terms)
| 2026/27 by area of spend | Amount |
|---|---|
| Corporate | £176.68 million |
| Environment | £156.88 million |
| People | £839.04 million |
Total |
£1172.6 million |
| Type of spend in 2026/27 | Amount | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Capital | £33.8 million | 3% |
| Levies | £44.31 million | 4% |
| Employees | £324.64 million | 28% |
| Running Expenses | £769.85 million | 65% |
Total |
£1172.6 million |
General fund expenditure
| 2024/25 | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | |
|---|---|---|---|
£m |
£m |
£m |
|
Gross expenditure |
911.1 |
955.3 |
1,172.6 |
| Gross income | (175.8) | (165.9) | (298.5) |
| Specific government grants | (335.6) | (344.7) | (378.9) |
Net operating requirement |
399.7 |
444.7 |
495.2 |
| Use of reserves, capital receipts & general balances | (2.0) | (2.6) | (4.2) |
| Collection Fund (surplus) / deficit | 1.2 | (2.8) | (3.9) |
| Exceptional Financial Support | 0.0 | 0.0 | (6.0) |
Net budget requirement |
398.9 |
439.3 |
481.1 |
Less grants
| 2024/25 | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Rates Top Up | (60.6) | (65.2) | (135.2) |
| Business Rates S31 | (33.1) | (30.7) | (23.2) |
| Social Care Support Grant | (41.9) | (49.5) | 0.0 |
| Market Sustainability & Improvement | (7.9) | (7.9) | 0.0 |
| ASC Discharge Fund | (4.5) | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| New Homes Bonus | (0.1) | (0.4) | 0.0 |
| Services Grant | (0.6) | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant | 0.0 | (2.4) | 0.0 |
| Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant | 0.0 | (1.0) | 0.0 |
| Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging | 0.0 | (4.6) | (6.1) |
| Recovery Grant | 0.0 | (9.8) | (9.8) |
| NIC contributions | 0.0 | (2.7) | 0.0 |
| Children, Families and Youth Grant | 0.0 | 0.0 | (5.9) |
| Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse | 0.0 | 0.0 | (3.2) |
| Recovery Grant Guarantee | 0.0 | 0.0 | (7.0) |
| Recovery Grant Uplift | 0.0 | 0.0 | (5.5) |
| Adjustment Support Grant | 0.0 | 0.0 | (0.1) |
Local taxation
| Business Rates Baseline | (69.0) | (71.1) | (75.2) |
Council tax requirement |
181.3 |
194.1 |
209.8 |
Add precepts
| Police and Crime Commission | 25.4 | 27.3 | 29.6 |
| Fire and rescue | 8.8 | 9.4 | 10.2 |
| Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
Total Council Tax requirement |
217.3 |
233.2 |
252.0 |