Bankrupt Birmingham. UK’s second largest city - incompetence or politics?

You may have seen the headlines - like these:

From the BBC in 2023:

Bankrupt Birmingham: Why the council went bust - BBC News

“Birmingham City Council is in financial crisis on multiple fronts.

Equal pay claims of up to £760m are among the bills it cannot afford.

Alongside equal pay, the authority is counting the cost of an £80m overspend on an IT project called Oracle.

The council also has a projected overspend in this year's budget of £83m, giving it potential total liabilities of almost £1bn.”

And this from earlier last month:

Broke Birmingham - what life is like in a city that declared itself ‘bankrupt’ - Birmingham Live

“It followed a perfect storm of issues which were building up behind the scenes, including the equal pay debacle, inadequate budget setting, the disastrous implementation of a new IT system, demand led pressures and funding cuts.”

“Overflowing bins, rubbish bags in the street and a repugnant stench greet me as I make my way through Selly Oak.”

“The city council has recently said it made a “fair and reasonable offer” to Unite and that alternatives have been offered to the “small number of workers whose wages are impacted ongoing by the changes to the service (of whom there are now only 40)”.

Just 40 bin workers who have been given cuts to pay and overtime amounting to up to £8,000 a year.

Here’s how Brave AI frames the dispute over rubbish collection:

“Birmingham City refuse collectors are on strike due to a dispute over pay cuts, the removal of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role, and a ban on overtime. The strike, which began in January 2025, has led to the accumulation of over 17,000 tonnes of uncollected waste, causing significant public health concerns and environmental issues.

Pay Cuts: The council plans to scrap the WRCO role, which would result in pay cuts for around 150 workers, with some losing up to £8,000 per year.

• Role Removal: The council argues that the WRCO role does not exist in other local authorities and keeping it would create a "huge future equal pay liability." Unite, the trade union, contends that the role is safety-critical and essential for fair pay progression.

• Overtime Ban: The council has also imposed a ban on overtime, further impacting workers' earnings.

• Impact: The strike has led to significant waste accumulation, with residents reporting issues such as rats, foxes, and other pests. The council has declared a major incident to address the crisis and is seeking support from neighbouring authorities and the government.

Of interest, from Brave AI:

“Birmingham City Council's management team includes several high-ranking positions with substantial salaries. For instance, the Managing Director's salary is up to £295,000.5 Additionally, the council is recruiting four more top executives, each with an annual salary of up to £226,000. This means the five most senior executives will collectively earn more than a million pounds annually.

The council is currently under scrutiny from external commissioners due to financial difficulties, including nearly £400 million in cuts and over 600 redundancies.

• Managing Director: Up to £295,0005 [30064971]

• Four Additional Top Executives: Each up to £226,000

the latest information, Birmingham City Council has over 10,000 employees. This figure reflects the current size of the workforce as of the date the information was last updated.

Details of the highly qualified and experienced new management team are here:

https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50068/how_the_council_works/965/management_structure

The cost of 10,000 staff has just been increased by the central Labour government via National Insurance of over £6 million.

While that pay dispute is happening, the council has decided that it does not get paid enough -per Brave AI:

“Birmingham City Council approved a 5.7 percent increase in allowances for its councillors, raising the basic allowance from £18,876 to £19,952 per annum.

This decision was made despite the council facing significant financial challenges, including the need to cut services.

The panel also highlighted that Birmingham councillors are poorly remunerated compared to their counterparts in other regions and countries.es and increase council tax.”

The solution seems obvious - cu the salaries of the council management team by the money required to make th 40 odd bin collector s whole - probably around a cut of a few hundred thousand pounds out of the millions they are being paid. I struggle to reconcile how a council management team that advises councillors should get paid twice what the Prime Minister of the UK gets!

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Onwards!!!