Officers ‘not to blame’ for Birmingham’s section 114

Blame for Birmingham City Council’s financial situation lies with politicians “not officers”, according to its opposition leader.

The council issued a section 114 notice on Tuesday morning, effectively declaring bankruptcy, amid a £760m bill to settle equal pay claims.

This is in addition to the costs of the Oracle IT system, which council papers revealed in June could cost the council in the region of £100m to successfully implement.

At a cabinet meeting this morning, Sharon Thompson (Lab) deputy leader of the council, confirmed that Birmingham’s section 151 officer, Fiona Greenway had formally issued the section 114 notice and that the council will “prioritise core services”.

Ms Thompson also said Birmingham faces “long-standing issues” and faces “unprecedented financial challenges”.

However, Robert Alden (Con), leader of the opposition described the issuing of the notice as an “astonishing admission” and that blame “lies with the administration, not officers”.

“Labour’s failure in Birmingham has become clear for all to see, what Labour pledged was a golden decade ahead to voters in 2022 turns out to be based on budgets in 2020-21 and 21-22 that did not balance and were unfunded,” he said via a statement.

“Combined with Birmingham Labour’s refusal to deal with equal pay over the last decade this has created this mess where residents will now lose valuable services and investment.”

Cllr Alden also criticised the council’s “lack of urgency” in addressing its equal pay claims and said that the council did not have a “grip on their mess and no ability to fix it”.

He added: “Even over the summer the council have still failed to show the proper speed to tackle equal pay. From discussing the risk with unions privately over the last three years to having confessed publicly to the risk in June, they passed a decision from cabinet in July to another committee and then twice postponed a decision at those meetings in August, only finally putting forward a solution in September.

“Another four months lost, all the time the bill increasing by up to £14m a month. Hence why the final say on spending control has now been removed from the Labour political leadership.”

Ewan Mackie (Con) deputy leader of the opposition added: “Birmingham is littered with examples of Labour’s total disregard for taxpayers’ money and wanton waste across the last decade. Birmingham City Council needs to start treating taxpayers money like they would manage their own money and be responsible.”

In a statement announcing the section 114 notice this morning, Cllr Thompson and council leader John Cotton (Lab) described the notice as a “necessary step as we seek to get our city back on a sound financial footing so that we can build a stronger city for our residents”.

They added: “Despite the challenges that we face, we will prioritise core services that our residents rely on, in line with our values of supporting the most vulnerable.”