TWO “whistleblowers” last night claimed Wirral Council social services department operated an “illegal” delay in providing care to vulnerable people.

Former social services employee Andy Campbell accused Wirral Council of operating the four-week wait to save money.

The council last night disputed the allegation, saying internal and external advice confirmed its arrangements complied with the law.

But senior social worker Kevin Neate, who still works for the authority, backed his former colleague’s allegations, saying it was “common knowledge”.

Their allegations came after the council was attacked by an outside investigator called in to examine its treatment of former social worker Martin Morton.

He blew the whistle on an illegal overcharging policy and was forced out of his job.

Independent consultant Anna Klonowski was appointed by former council leader Jeff Green to look into Mr Morton’s case and then widened her inquiry, eventually saying the authority’s “corporate governance” – how it is run and managed – was in crisis.

Her report said there was a “corrosive impact on the basic levels of trust that need to exist between a council, its members, staff, residents” and warned the council it remains at risk of “external intervention”.

But former assistant support officer Mr Campbell, who left the authority last month, insisted the council’s continuing denials about the delays in care indicated little had changed since Mr Morton had left.

He said: “Every practitioner in the department is going to have emails about this. There would have been thousands of cases.”

Several emails passed by Mr Campbell to the Daily Post refer to a month-long delay and the need for a “waiver” from a senior manager to bypass it.