Cash-strapped Wirral Council still has one commodity in ample supply - gibberish!

For the second time in two years, sections of a council report have sent officers from the Campaign for Plain English spluttering with amazement at the complexity of “gobbledegook” involved.

The campaign has being fighting jargon and strangled English for almost 35 years.

Manager Tony Maher said: “I have read this Wirral report three times and I am still none the wiser.

"What a load of gobbledegook.

“I think it will be consigned to the bin by whoever reads it.”

And he pledged: “I will enter it into this year’s Golden Bull award.”

The offending statement was part of a report on health and social care for a council meeting this week.

Under a heading of "background and key issues", it states:

“The former model for integrating the integrated arrangements for health and social care were dealt with through separate streams, reablement and carers funds paid to the CCG and a special social care transfer for improved health outcomes, the section 256 agreement, these arrangements are superseded by the Better Care Fund.”

Council leader Cllr Phil Davies said the statement was unacceptable for a public document.

“I wouldn’t begin to defend it,” he said. “I agree, it is gobbledegook.

“I intend to raise this with the chief executive (Graham Burgess) and get him to speak to heads of services to ensure that reports that go out to the public and intelligible and written in plain English.”

The council’s previous Golden Bull contender was a report indicating "CEOs must load their HHCs before issuing any PNCs that they acknowledged".

Translated from town hall-speak it meant traffic wardens must enter details into their hand-held computers before issuing parking tickets.

A Plain English spokesman said at the time: “When you read something like this you want to throw your hands up in despair.”