A commissioner at Birmingham City Council recently warned the local authority faces a “long, hard road”
Birmingham City Council House in Victoria Square(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
Crisis-hit Birmingham City Council has approached a “critical turning point” as it pushes ahead with its “long road” to recovery.
The Labour-run council passed through another painful budget earlier this year, which included a huge raft of ‘savings’ and cuts to services, as well as a council tax hike for a second successive year.
The consequences of the authority’s financial turmoil have been far-reaching, impacting bin collections, libraries, culture, street lighting, parks, adult social care day centres, pest control charges for rats and much more.
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The council’s corporate plan, set to be considered at next week’s cabinet meeting, sets out the priorities for the next three years and provides a look at how it intends to overcome the issues which have plagued the authority.
But there are warnings the recovery journey will be a long one, with a government-appointed commissioner recently saying it will take years of improvements.
The corporate plan acknowledged that the council faced “significant challenges” that led to government intervention in 2023, with concerns being raised over equal pay liabilities, the failed Oracle implementation and “budget and financial management instability”.
“The council responded with its first Improvement and Recovery Plan (IRP), which provided an outline roadmap for stabilisation and change,” it continued.
“Although there is still a long way to go, delivery of IRP programmes over the last year has moved the council forward in its improvement and recovery journey.”
Joanne Roney
The corporate plan went on to say that managing director Joanne Roney CBE, the council’s leadership, officers and commissioners have been working closely together to improve the functioning of the organisation.
“Since April 2024, BCC has made substantial progress in addressing its most critical issues,” it went on to say. “The Brindley Programme has stabilised the re-implementation of the Oracle ERP system and is on track to go live in April 2026.
“A framework settlement agreement has been reached on equal pay and a balanced budget was set for 24/25 and 25/26 with c.£150m of savings delivered in 24/25.”
“The council is beginning to move beyond a shorter-term focus on stabilisation and crisis management towards longer-term and sustainable improvement and transformation,” it added.
The plan, therefore, said that Birmingham City Council is now at a “critical turning point”.
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“Many of the immediate challenges have been addressed and successes should be celebrated,” it said. “However, the work is not yet complete.
“This plan sets out a clear pathway for delivering lasting improvement and transformation.”
‘A long, hard road’
Max Caller, a government-appointed commissioner sent in to oversee the council’s recovery, was asked last month when Brummies would notice things improving in their day-to-day lives.
“It’s been 18 months since this all began and I don’t see any improvement for our residents,” Conservative councillor Deirdre Alden ( Edgbaston ) said at a finance scrutiny meeting.
Mr Caller responded: “It’s a long, hard road. This council will need to be on its improvement journey for years after commissioners have gone.
“And bit by bit, you’ll be able to see things get better.”
But he continued: “When the waste strike is over and the council has implemented a reformed refuse collection, which minimises the number of missed collections, people will not be ringing up to congratulate you.
Commissioner Max Caller(Image: Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)
“I can promise you – that never, ever happens. But you will have a service that you can measure.
“I have nothing to offer to a resident who says ‘it’s bad now and you’ve been at this two years’ – this is true and you may not see it until even a year after the election in some parts of the organisation.”
“Sorry, I can’t give you a magic wand,” he added.
Providing insight on the city council’s financial position, external auditors recently highlighted several issues including the equal pay debacle, inadequate budget setting, poor service management, demand led pressures and the disastrous implementation of a new IT system.
Labour politicians have also pointed to the impact of funding cuts over the past decade or so.