Huge rise in number of council staff facing abuse

WORKERS PUNCHED, THREATENED, BITTEN AND EVEN HIT WITH A CRICKET STUMP

- By EDWARD BARNES

COUNCIL workers in one Merseyside area are facing more and more abuse just for doing their job, the ECHO can reveal.

Workers have been threatened, punched, hit with a cricket stump, bitten, had hair pulled from their scalp, or even had their homes targeted.

New data in a Freedom of Information request to Wirral Council shows the number of abuse incidents faced by council employees and contractors has massively increased in recent years. In 2021 and 2022, there were 38 and 30 incidents reported respectively.

The following year in 2023 this increased to 66 before rising to 93 incidents in 2024. In 2025, 58 incidents were reported between April and October suggesting numbers this year could rise even further.