Last year, the Council lost £51 million of government funding and this year there is a ‘gap’ of £25 million between its income and projected spend. As part of the drive to balance its budget, the Leader of the Council has written to every household in the borough asking residents to tell them where they would make savings and where they would invest Council funds in 2012.

The simulator, which can be accessed at www.wirral.gov.uk/budget2012, shows what the Council will spend next year. The money is broken down into five different areas; Your Neighbourhood, Children & Young People, Adult Social Services, Your Economy and Your Council. People can look at each of the budgets and decide to reduce them, increase them or leave them unchanged after considering the consequences of each option. They can also make suggestions on how to increase income.

Leader of Wirral Council, Councillor Steve Foulkes explained:

“Like all local authorities we are going to have to make some tough decisions.
We will continue to assess our ‘back-office’ functions to see where costs and bureaucracy can be reduced, but this will not be enough to bridge the projected budget gap.

“For this reason, we are asking the people of Wirral, to tell us how they think we should balance our budget. We need to have a real open, honest conversation with local residents about how we deal with our financial situation.”

The budget simulator works in three simple stages:

ADJUST: Click on each area shown to see a breakdown of the Council’s budget. Next to each area will be a budget and a slider. Simply drag the slider to adjust funding up and down. As you make changes the simulator will calculate how this affects the Council budget.

REVIEW: View the consequences of the choices you make. For every budget you decide to reduce or increase there will be a consequence – the simulator will show you what they are with each change you make. You can go back and make changes at any time if you aren’t happy with the results.

SUBMIT: View the summary and click FINISH when you’re ready to let the Council know the decisions you have made. Remember, you need to recommend savings of at least £25million!

Feedback from the Simulator will be reported back to Cabinet in December and used to help identify priorities for saving or investment in the budget.

Visit www.wirral.gov.uk/budget2012 to share you views or go to any One Stop Shop, Library or Leisure Centre. The Council will also be out and about in areas across Wirral talking to residents to ensure everyone has the opportunity to make their voice heard.

Saved us all 3%



Cut a shit load of benefits. Easy.

The council need to stop using outside contractors to do jobs that the council guys and girls are trained for eg. house emptying/ heating engineers / electrical contractors to name a few. How many times have those in council properties telephoned to get a job done and Joe Bloggs has turned up how are we to know they are from wph/wbc only on their sayso. rant over

I don't know.

I read yesterday there was a possibility that Iceland would be repaying their debts in the next couple of months. Seeing as WBC lost millions in that debacle I hope they get it back and use it thoughtfully - if the gov permits.

I had a go and found it very difficult because there seem to be separate budgets for almost identical services. I would look at the whole structure of council departments and just why the beneficiaries of such largesse in the social departments need so much whilst at the same time protecting those who genuinely cannot help themselves.

maybe not taking full page advertisements in the local papers would help.

i may be wrong but i cant find the " cutting the gravy train " option!!

I made a few adjustments, ended up with positive consequences and a rise of only 2%

So now we know how they are saving money, we're doing their job for them.

I made a saving of 3% easy enough.

10% saving on budgets £10m and over
7% saving on budgets £5m up to £10m
5% saving on all budgets with further cuts from most supporting services including Forward Planning and Information Technology.

Result 2% Council Rate.

Clever and cunning.....,

GET the local people to find ways to cut the budget and make the council look good statistically nationwide, without paying any incentive or using any budget.

NEXT hold lots of internal meetings, plan lots of discussions and make radical cuts which will be detrimental to most services used by the local people.

THEN when it all goes plop and hits the fan, blame the people because THEY filled the forms in....... !!!!!!

I reduced Council Tax by 7%

All I did was cut the stuff for druggies, alcoholics and reduce the money towards free nursery places amongst others

Forgot to mention, what happens if we don't fill the form in?

Well the council hold lots of internal meetings, plan lots of discussions and make radical cuts which will be detrimental to most services used by the local people.

And when it all goes plop and hits the fan the council say....' You had you chance to make a difference......'

A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

My friend worked on a brochure campaign as a designer for WBC not that long ago. It was outsourced, of course. £12,000. As long as it's outsourced, it'll cost an absolute fortune, but there are no comebacks to the council if anything goes wrong - the companies see the money as a bottomless pit and charge anything. Also, 'Consultation' with specialists.

If they want to save money, start by cutting down on the outside contracting - that's if Cllr Steve Fowkes can cut down on the deals given round the back of the masonic lodge.