by Street lighting is to be dimmed and bin collections will be fortnightly at England’s biggest local authority – as council tax rises by 21 per cent.
Labour-run Birmingham City Council, which declared itself effectively bankrupt last year, is making £300 million of cuts over the next two years. At the same time, council tax will rise by 10 per cent in April and 10 per cent the following year – adding £350 to average bills.
Residents will have to put up with reduced services despite the increased tax bills, as well as the introduction of increased fees for burials.
The authority also plans to cut spending on highway maintenance – putting drivers at risk of potholes.
Up to 600 council staff could lose their jobs as part of the cuts.
John Cotton, leader of the Labor council, said he was “very sorry we are in this position”, adding that they were “really difficult decisions to make”.
“This is a large number that we are trying to remove from the budget and we obviously know that this will affect citizens in terms of the services they receive,” he said.
“What we’ve sought to do in framing this budget is to ease the impact on the most vulnerable, so we’ve ensured that social care for adults and children’s services will take a much lower percentage cut .”
He added: “There are issues in this council that need to be resolved and I am focused on resolving those issues but there is also a worsening crisis across local government.”
The council issued a section 114 notice in September, which meant it could not balance its books, after facing equal pay claims of up to £760 million and an £80 million overspend on an underfunded IT system -fire.
Michael Gove brought in independent commissioners to help run the council, which owes almost £3 billion to lenders.
The two 10 per cent increases in council tax – which add up to 21 per cent over two years – will add around £350 to a typical Band D home and £700 to the most expensive Band H properties.
On Monday night, Birmingham said it planned to cut £150 million from its budget in 2024/25 and the same amount in 2025/26.
Fortnightly waste collections are due to be introduced in 2025/26, and other savings are expected to come in almost immediately.
Dimmed street lights are expected to save nearly £1 million a year, and could save up to £12 million in highway maintenance spending, depending on the outcome of the Private Finance Initiative discussion.
Social care for adults will be cut by £23.7 million in the next financial year, while the young children and families department will be forced to find savings of £51.5 million.
As part of major cuts to aged social care, providers will not be given inflation-linked increases in many cases. Crisis payments for food, gas bills and white goods such as fridges and cookers will end.
Staff will use fewer mobile phones and revert to cheaper landlines, while people trying to call the council will have to deal more with voice automation rather than human call handlers.
The council hopes £13 million a year could also be saved if children’s travel contracts were renegotiated.
A new fee of £24 will be charged for dealing with rats in gardens and homes. The bulky waste fee will increase from £35 to £45, and garden waste subscription fees will rise from £50 to £60 a year. Charges for sports and leisure facilities will rise by 5 per cent.
Parking charges will be introduced in parks and the number of wardens will be reduced. More than 30 park maintenance staff will be laid off and the use of herbicides will be phased out.
There is less money to spend on graffiti removal, tackling offensive graffiti first and some street cleaners will be cut.
All grants for cultural projects will be canceled from 2025 and the budget to promote Birmingham as a tourist destination will be cut. The council will also aim to make more money by hosting more weddings in its registry offices.
Deborah Cadman, the council’s chief executive, said no decision would be made on the number of jobs to be lost until the end of the consultation period.
The GMB union, which is currently balloting members for strike action over the council’s “lack of action” in resolving equal pay claims, said it now wants government intervention to resolve it.
‘Need to see urgent intervention’
Rachel Fagan, organizer of the GMB, said: “Birmingham City Council seems to have a plan to cut local services, but they still don’t have a plan to set equal pay.
“City council leaders are desperate to find budget savings to settle historic equal pay claims, but not a single penny of the wages stolen from working women has been returned.
“We need to see urgent central government intervention on the equal pay crisis but instead, they are trying to pass the cost on to ordinary Brums.”
Robert Alden, Conservative leader of the council, said: “Birmingham Labor hid the details of their devastating cuts until the last minute.
“For an administration that promised to be open and transparent, this is sadly the kind of behavior we have come to expect from Labor in Birmingham – with symbolic emphasis on the continued refusal to publish the draft budget and the letters they sent saying . they are not going to fix a balanced budget without selling city assets.
“The Labor group have been discussing their plan to destroy city services for a year and yet they have left it until the last two weeks to tell Brummies their plan.”
Darwin Friend, head of research for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Residents in Birmingham are facing a tough few years, as steep rate rises hit already strained budgets.
“For years town hall leaders have stuck in the sand and ignored a growing crisis, even if it wasn’t all their own making, and now it’s the taxpayers who are picking up the tab.
“Birmingham council must ensure that every penny is spent wisely, and that residents are not making sacrifices in vain.”
