Embarrassing...

Birmingham City Council bankruptcy: What does it mean for the city?

How has it reached this point?

The pressures have been linked to a £760m bill to settle equal pay claims.

To date, the local authority has paid a total of £1.1bn settling equal pay claims after a 2012 Supreme Court ruling found hundreds of mostly female employees had not received the same bonuses offered to their male counterparts.

The types of jobs that are being challenged as undervalued and underpaid are carers, teaching assistants and caterers.

The GMB Union, which is taking a lot of these cases, has given examples of practices it is challenging as discriminatory. They include male jobs getting better time off, bonuses, and other perks.

But a big factor is that these jobs have become so much more skilled over the years, without the pay keeping up.

However, analysis following the implementation of a new IT system, Oracle, found the council has an equal pay liability in the region of £650m and £760m, which is growing by between £5m and £14m a month.

In a statement on their website, Birmingham City Council apologised for their failure to get the situation under control and warned there would be "significantly fewer resources available" to the council going forward.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, has issued a statement on the Council's declaration, saying it "raises serious questions about the Council’s leadership and the decisions they have taken over the past decade."

[itv.com]