Council debt increases by £233m in six months

Wirral Council's borrowing increased by more than £70m, and investments dropped, latest figures show

Wirral Council's net debt has increased by £233m in six months, with the expectation more borrowing is on the way.

The figure was revealed during a meeting about the authority's treasury management strategy.

A summary published by the local authority showed that between September 2024 to March 2025 there was a £25m increase in spending on Public Finance Initiatives (PFI), £73m in borrowings, and a drop of £8.2m in investments.

However £152.5m of the £233m was due to changes to PFI liabilities, and accounting rules which mean rent costs must be listed on the council's balance sheet both as an asset being leased and the future lease payments.

PFIs was a government policy launched in 1992 where a private firm was contracted to deliver a public project while the costs were then paid back over several years.

Wirral Council said the PFIs had to be reassessed to take inflation into account.

'Long-term stability'

Changes to debt borrowing have been blamed on accountancy rule changes, capital projects such as regeneration, and temporary loans taken from other councils, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The report said: "The council's chief objective when borrowing has been to strike an appropriately low risk balance between securing low interest costs and achieving cost certainty.

"The council's borrowing strategy continues to address the key issue of affordability without compromising the longer-term stability of the debt portfolio."

It said external borrowing may have to increase in the future and the decrease in investments was because the council was having to use that funding for service needs.

A Policy and Resources committee meeting will further discuss the council's finances on 26 June .