One staff member working for the council for more than ten years said: “This is very much a last resort. I do not want to be here.”
17:05, 05 Nov 2025Updated 17:07, 05 Nov 2025
Barry Hughes is on strike for the first time since joining Wirral Council in 1997(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Dozens of staff have walked out on strike for the first time, telling a council enough is enough over pay. One staff member, who has worked for Wirral council for more than ten years, said: “This is very much a last resort. I do not want to be here.”
Staff at Wirral Evolutions Day Services which operates Wirral Council-run centres supporting disabled and vulnerable people across the borough have been on strike for five days as part of a long-running dispute that goes back two years. The union is warning more strikes could be on the way and called on the council to hold meaningful talks.
Unison said 116 people out of around 120 workers were out on strike on November 5 leading to the closure of eight day centres across the borough. On the picket lines outside centres in Eastham and New Brighton, the union said around 90 people turned up.
Staff told the ECHO it was a hard decision to go on strike as they knew it would be having an impact on those in their care. However Unison and those on the picket line said many families understood the reasons and were supportive of the action being taken.
While a select number of staff have received a pay rise, this has led to growing unhappiness with a feeling of unfairness and inequality. A staff member said: “Most of us have the best job in the world but so often we have to tell people we cannot do certain activities because we do not have the staff.
“To say it is such a wonderful job, at the end of the day the salary needed to draw people in. It’s not about being greedy. It is about having people at hand to provide the activities people want. No one wants to disappoint anybody.”
Brian Evans at the picket line in Wallasey(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Brian Evans felt nobody knew what the future plans were for the service, adding: “It is disrespectful. They have not given us a pay increase for years. They keep deferring it and we are not given respect.
“Out there is a lot of families who rely on us. I am not only fighting for my job. I am also fighting for their services.”
Barry Hughes has been working for the council since 1997 and this is the first time he felt he needed to walk out on strike. He said: “It’s degrading. There’s also a sense it is a two tier system.
“It feels demoralising because we get told we do such a good job but actually we are not getting fair pay for our hard work. It feels like lip service.
“I hope they will listen. I hope they will have conversations with the union. The longer this takes, the longer the impact it has on the people we support.”
David Jones, from Wirral Unison, said: “Families understand what staff are doing. It is great to get the suppport and we just need the council to listen and engage in meaningful talks with us. We are open to meaningful talks at any time.”
He said he understood the council’s situation with costs of adult social care services being a big drain on the council’s budget but argued the overspends were in the private care market, not day services. He told the ECHO: “We know the council is in financial crisis but it is not this area that is causing the problems.
“We are more than happy to work with the council to look at the models of care to make sure they are fit for the future and provide a more effective and cost efficient service. It is a lazy argument to say we are losing money and therefore you are not going to listen to our arguments.”
Wirral Council day services staff out on strike today on November 5(Image: Copyright Unknown)
At a meeting on October 14, concerns were raised by the union and members of the public over the future of day care services due to a review of the service. Cllr Graeme Cooper, who chairs the council’s health committee, said the local authority is always looking to match care services and staffing to people’s needs.
UNISON Wirral branch officer Helen Kane also challenged the council on what it was doing to end the current dispute. Cllr Cooper said councillors and officers were committed to working with unions to ensure services continue to work for everybody going forward.
He said he wanted any modernisation of the service to “really give the staff a chance to shine and use the skills and talents they have got,” adding: “We have got no reason to continue things the way they are if we can find better ways to do them.”
Cllr Cooper said: “As with any potential industrial action, Wirral Council is committed to prioritising the needs of residents who may be affected – which in this case includes adult day services users. We have written to all carers to explain we cannot operate services safely with significantly reduced staffing on the dates of the action.
“Council officers continue to engage with the unions, remaining open and transparent. The service moved away from qualifications being part of the essential criteria for roles in our adult day services when Wirral Evolutions operated outside of the council. Under the current criteria, we’ve seen a positive impact on recruitment, enabling us to recruit and retain staff more effectively and efficiently.
“Reversing this move and funding the requested pay increase would cost an additional £450-£500K, which, juggling demand and savings targets, would put further pressure on Wirral’s adult social care services.”