WARRINGTON Borough Council is facing a funding shortfall of more than £34 million for next year.

As recently reported, at the end of quarter one, the financial forecast outturn for 2024-25 is an overspend of £28.985 million.

But there is also a worrying forecast for next year.

Councils across the north west have a collective hole in their finances amounting to £421.9 million for the coming financial year, according to UNISON research.

New figures, based on information from local authorities across the north west, show council funding is in a dire state with massive cuts likely to essential services and jobs, says the union.

The national report, Councils on the Brink, warns that failure to rectify the growing problem soon risks ‘the widespread collapse of local government’.

According to UNISON’s research, the councils in the north west with the biggest predicted shortfalls for 2025-26 are Cheshire West and Chester Council, £58.8 million, Cheshire East Council, £41.9 million, Warrington Borough Council, £36.5 million, Manchester City Council, £28.8 million, and Stockport Borough Council, £26.4 million.

UNISON North West regional secretary Lynne Morris said: “Councils are teetering on the brink of financial disaster. Countless essential services and very many vital jobs are at risk, with terrible consequences for communities across the north west.

“After 14 years of ruthless austerity, the very fabric of local society is under threat. Councils are quite simply the linchpin of local areas, so when services go, many people are left vulnerable, with no one to pick up the pieces.

“Local authorities were clobbered by the previous Government, whose harsh financial settlements left councils with no option but to sell off the family silver, auction off green spaces, close key community facilities and let thousands of workers go. Only swift and decisive action to stabilise local finances will do.

“Labour has inherited a mess, with essential services battered and bruised. The new Government understands the value of healthy public services and the role they can play in generating economic growth, in a way its predecessors simply didn’t. So as tough as the financial situation may be, ministers cannot ignore the terrible plight of authorities of every political persuasion.

“There’s an unquestionable need to turn the page on the destructive cuts of the past and invest in services and staff to help councils rebuild Britain.”

But despite UNISON highlighting a £36.5 million predicted shortfall for Warrington Borough Council for 2025-26, the council has highlighted the council’s report to full council in February which showed a projected £34.7 million budget gap for 2025-26.

Recently, after confirming that its quarter one projection shows it could be facing a near £29 million overspend by the end of the financial year, the council said the overspend is attributable to a number of pressures and areas of ‘unavoidable spending’.

The council’s cabinet member for corporate finance, Cllr Denis Matthews, said: “Unfortunately across the local government sector, on an almost daily basis, councils are publishing significant projected overspends.

“This is the result of growing demand for council services, which is adding additional cost onto council budgets.

“The current £29 million projected overspend in Warrington puts us in a very pressurised position. But it is not an inevitability – it is an estimate at this point, and we have time to bring it down by making carefully targeted interventions.

“Although the overspend projection in Warrington is ours to manage, we are far from alone in facing a difficult challenge this financial year. Total funding for councils in 2024-25 is around £13 billion less in real terms compared to 2010/11, but local authorities continue to be asked to deliver more.

“The pressures we face are acute, but I must stress – we are well managed, we know the scale of the problem and we are putting plans in place, to help us address the budget challenge we face.”