Recently the much awaited Best Value Inspection Report on the finances of Warrington Borough Council was published. It contains a huge amount of information covering 71 pages, including appendices. The report contains some serious issues with the state of the finances that need to be brought to the attention of every council tax payer in the Borough.
The current Council borrowing is £1.9 billion. This is more debt than that of a number of small countries. There are 98,000 households in the Borough and this level of debt represents £19,400 per household. The total budgeted income for 2025/26 is £197 million and if expressed as a ratio to borrowing, it is 9.7 years. A typical mortgage lender would only allow borrowing of 3 times annual income, but the Public Works Loan Board, who have lent the Council the majority of the money, do not appear to use such criteria when making loans.
On reviewing the budget information in the Report, and that provided by the Council, there are significant deficits between income and expenditure for all the years from 2025/26 up to 2027/28 as follows:
| 2025 / 26 (£m) | 2026 / 27 (£m) | 2027 / 28 (£m) | |
| Total Expenditure | 233 | 246 | 253 |
| Budgeted Deficit | 37 | 55 | 66 |
| Percentage overspend | 16% | 22% | 26% |
No matter what the Council claim, it is impossible to see how savings of 16% in one year or 26% within three years can be achieved. The Report indicates that most of the deficit for 2025/26 will be covered by reserves, but it is unlikely that this course of action will be possible for the later years.
There has been no audit of the financial accounts of the Council since 2018/19, and those were only signed of in 2024. At that point the external auditors resigned. The Report indicates a number of examples where the Council were not using prudent accounting practices and once audits of the 5 intervening years are completed there will be a reduction in the available reserves.
Central Government’s reaction to the report is to send two envoys to assist the Council, but whatever their remit is, they are not accountable to the people of Warrington.
The Council prides itself on providing a first class service. The problem is this can only be achieved if you have a first class income and that is not the case. The Council members must take a hard look at their spending plans and make cuts to balance the budgets. Any other course of action will only be the road to financial ruin.
