NEWS: “A bad taste in the mouth” as Birmingham City Council employees facing cuts to local services presented with “crazy” voluntary redundancy packages

Words by Jacob Morgan

Birmingham City Council has presented workers with a “crazy” new voluntary redundancy package, whilst it grapples with massive cuts – as part of a recently approved budget that will see the largest local authority in Britain withdraw £300m from public services.

Birmingham City Council (BCC) employees were offered voluntary redundancies last August, under its Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS).

However, after many calculated their MARS settlements and agonised over the decision whether to leave or stay from their jobs, the Council withdrew the offer in a last minute U-turn – as Erdington Local reported last November.

But Erdington Local can now reveal, BCC employed workers were recently sent an email about forthcoming redundancies with a “lower settlement” – which the Council acknowledged could run into 600 jobs being lost.

A Council spokesman confirmed: “We anticipate that (subject to consultation) up to 600 posts may be declared redundant across the council.”

Workers in children’s services, the youth service, SEND provision, the careers service, and other departments earmarked for budget cuts, have begun to receive voluntary redundancy offers that are seen as “lower” than last year’s MARS scheme.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson further confirmed the new round of voluntary redundancies.

They told: “A targeted voluntary redundancy scheme has been opened to employees working within services that are seeing proposals for workforce reductions or changes, as a result of the budget savings that the council is having to make. 

“The voluntary redundancy scheme and proposed payment arrangements are enhanced from the statutory minimum for voluntary redundancy payments.”

A Council employee, who has more than 15 years service, told Erdington Local they have received another voluntary redundancy offer which has left “a bad taste in the mouth”.

He added: “I just do not trust the Council anymore. Last year I spent weeks really thinking hard whether I want to be part of what is going to be left after all these cuts.

“I love my job, I work with some amazing but vulnerable youngsters, and can see the difference I make. But where I work could close… so what is the point of staying?

“Also, I spent ages looking at the settlement I was offered under MARS and what that could mean for my immediate future.

He added: “However, just as I was about to submit my voluntary redundancy submission they scrapped MARS. I really, really, really resent the amount of time I wasted thinking it about. They are playing with people’s lives – I that’s what so annoying.

“And now, just a few months later, I have got another voluntary redundancy offer, with a lower settlement.

“I am getting out of this organisation, which is run by people who do not care about the work their employees do.”

Unite regional officer for Birmingham Council, Lee Wiggetts-Clinton, said: “This is a tremendously uncertain time for all staff at Birmingham (City) Council, one thing they can guarantee is that Unite will always have the backs of its members.

“It is crazy at the moment. I did not like MARS. And I don’t like these lower settlements offered. Obviously, defending on people’s circumstances, a voluntary offer could work.

“But I am telling members, tell them to shove their voluntary offers where the sun don’t shine – wait for the bounty of compulsory.”

The voluntary redundancy controversy comes after the HR expert brought into deal with the personnel problems at Birmingham City Council was himself not kept in post, arguably with questions still left to answer about the more widespread financial issues facing the city.

Interim Director of Human Resources and Organisation Development, Darren Hockaday, was reportedly costing taxpayers between £1,200 and £1,500 a day – which is the equivalent of at least £350,000 a year and a much higher annual salary than that of the Birmingham City Council Chief Executive, who earned around £260,000 per year.

Mr Hockaday leftt Birmingham City Council November 2023 after his contact was not renewed – despite the financial crisis gripping the city, and his role as a key city officer responsible for HR of over around 12,000 Council employees.

Reports from other local media have also cited a Council initiated investigations from solicitors Browne Jackson into allegations that individuals at Birmingham City Council “might have failed to abide by ‘the Nolan principles’ that govern public life, including acting with integrity and honesty.”

NEWS: Derbyshire businessman Steve Knee selected as next Conservative parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Erdington

Words by Ed King / Group pic supplied by Birmingham Conservatives – other pics taken from Steve Knee’s YouTube content

Derbyshire businessman Steve Knee has been selected as the next Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Birmingham Erdington seat – as voted for by locally registered party members.

Following the announcement that longstanding Erdington Ward Councillor Robert Alden will not contest the seat in the upcoming General Election, as he has done over the last four, a selection meeting was organised for 13 March to choose the Conservative’s new Erdington MP hopeful.

On Thursday 14 March, the Birmingham Conservatives issued a statement confirming Mr Knee as their next parliamentary candidate for the Birmingham Erdington seat.

Steve Knee is an established businessman and entrepreneur, who set up Cloudbass Multimedia Limited in February 2009 – a television programme production company which broadcasts high profile events from the London Olympic Games opening ceremony to Glastonbury Festival.

According to documents on file at Companies House, Cloudbass Multimedia Limited is the “largest independently owned” outside broadcast facilities provider – operating from three sites across the UK.

Successfully navigating through the Covid pandemic and international lockdowns, which saw the ruin of many organisations that work with the entertainment sector, Cloudbass Multimedia retains its 40,000 sqft headquarters in Derbyshire – where Mr Knee also lives with his wife and three children.

Mr Knee has also previously stood for the Duffield and Quarndon Ward in the 2023 Amber Valley Borough Council elections, alongside running mate Martin Betteridge – coming in second with around 27% of the turnout, beating Labour but losing to the incumbent Green Party.

Following his selection as parliamentary candidate for the Birmingham Erdington seat, Mr Knee told: “I’m absolutely delighted… as a constituency with a rich heritage, I’m looking forward to representing the people and to help improve their real world outcomes, from the cost of living to dealing with the fallout from the City Council cuts.”

He added: “I’m a passionate advocate of renewable energy, not only for the environmental benefits but as the cheapest form of energy production it can make a real different to the cost of living.”

Following Mr Knee’s selection, Birmingham Conservatives Association Chairman and Erdington Ward Councillor Gareth Moore stated: “Steve (Knee) demonstrated that he is fully aware of the terrible impact Labour’s financial mismanagement will have on residents and how he wants to work with residents and local Conservative Councillors to fight for our area and to help protect vital services like our local libraries.”

The selection meeting on 13 March, held at the Erdington Conservative Club on Orchard Road, also saw local party members confirm to keep in place the following candidates for the 2026 Council elections: Cllr Robert Alden (Erdington Ward), Cllr Gareth Moore (Erdington Ward) and Cllr Rick Payne (Kingstanding Ward).

Steve Knee: Who am I? – taken from Mr Knee’s own YouTube channel

NEWS: Erdington’s Mo ‘Terminator’ Zubair wins MMA professional debut

Pics supplied by Mo Zubair

An Erdington MMA fighter has begun the long road to international UFC glory with the backing of world champion Leon Edwards.

Mo Zubair spent five years in the amateur MMA ranks and entered the professional arena by winning his bout in Wolverhampton on 2 March in spectacular fashion.

The 23-year-old has trained with fellow Erdingtonian Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards, who proved to every fighter in the UK it was possible to win world titles without being trained in America.

Mo told Erdington Local: “Leon is a big inspiration to me, he has been really supportive. He has let me join him in training camps and join him on the circuit.

“He proves what can be achieved. We are alike, we both came from the streets and just turned up to the gym and changed our lives.”

Mo first began contact sports with a visit to Tyburn Boxing Club as a child. He loved the smells, sounds, and sense of belonging that boxing could bring.

However, like many boxers, fighters, and fans alike, Mo had his head turned by MMA – Mixed Martial Arts. And in Erdington, the catalyst was the popular Ultimate Training Centre (UTC) gym at the old Blockbuster building on the High Street. UTC was the first in the region to have a full size octagon and quickly became a magnet for combat sports athletes from across Birmingham.

Eventually, after being forced to vacate the old premises and several false dawns, UTC left Erdington with its talented trainers scattering to the winds – until a group of trainers began Team Renegade, at a purpose built gym in Northfield.

The rising stars of the Erdington fight scene were Leon Edwards and his brother fighter Fabian, and they followed their trainers to Team Renegade in Northfield. American UFC experts and fighters mocked the facilities and quality of coaching in the UK, let alone Birmingham.

However, Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards stuck with his training team and recorded one of the greatest knockout finishes in sporting history – clinching the welterweight championship by knocking out champion Kamaru Usman in the final seconds of the bout, whilst losing on every judge’s card.

The gym shot to global fame when Joe Rogan showed the new champion a clip of a live video of the gym celebrating back home. Mo said: “I was in the room that night, it was incredible, life changing. I know want to be fighting in the UFC just like Leon. Because of his success there are some UFC fighters training at Team Renegade and West Midlands has become a real hotbed of MMA.”

After winning the biggest amateur competitions possible, including Cage Warriors and Gladiator UK, Mo turned professional on the advice of Team Renegade.

He said: “You can’t just turn professional, you have to be ready and I think I am.

“I am coming up to six years as an amateur so it’s time. I started in small shows and ended up winning the biggest amateur events in the country.”

As an amateur, Mo fought as a flyweight but has begun his tilt at professional glory as a bantamweight.

Fighting on the Golden Ticket Promotions bill at KK’s Steel Hangar in Wolverhampton, Mo won his first professional victory in early March – facing off against Nestor Santana, who already had six professional MMA fights before finished in the first round.

Former John Wilmott School pupil Mo said: “I won with a first round corner stoppage which is a great way to start my professional career. My manager and trainer are just weighing offers and options.”

He added: “I train twice a day, I go home, and do the same the next day. I don’t go to any nightclubs, or any of that. I want to fight in the UFC. That is where the action is and I will not settle for anything less, it is the Premier League of MMA.

“And it would be great to have two fighters from Erdington as champions. It can be done.”

To follow Mo ‘Terminator’ Zubair on Instagram visit www.instagram.com/mozubairmma

NEWS: Birmingham City Council Chief Executive Deborah Cadman to quit quarter million pound role after Oracle and equal pay effectively bankrupt city

Words by Ed King

Birmingham City Council Chief Executive, Deborah Cadman, has officially announced her plans to step down from the role – walking away from the top flight job from 22 March, which reportedly pays around £260,000 a year.

Ms Cadman was appointed as Birmingham Chief Executive in June 2021, having been the tenth person in the role since the turn of the millennium.

Ms Cadman was previously in position as the first permanent Chief Executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) – which came into being in June 2016 – and was appointed an OBE in 2006 for services to local government, following a long career in local governance including holding the position of Chief Executive of Suffolk County Council from 2011 to 2017.

In a statement issued today, Ms Cadman told: “It was always my intention to leave the council once the budget (2024/25) was agreed, and we had a clear route to recovery and improvement. Having secured that approval and having led on the development of the council’s new Improvement and Recovery Plan, I feel that now is the right time to hand over the baton to a new Chief Executive.

“I am of course incredibly disappointed with the council’s current financial position and the challenges that have arisen due to historic Equal Pay issues and the failed implementation of Oracle.

“It has been the honour of my life to be the Chief Executive of the city in which I was born and raised. I wish my colleagues every success in transforming the council into one that this great city deserves.”

The budget Ms Cadman refers to in her statement will see £300m cut from public services, to help get Birmingham City Council financially back on track after a section 114 notice was issued by the city’s Chief Financial Officer, Fiona Greenway, on 5 September 2023.

The potential payout the Council might face in equal pay liabilities, linked to the “bin strikes” from 2017 to 2109, was cited as the reason for the section 114 – with a figure of up to £800m being put into the public domain and endorsed by the exiting Chief Executive, Deborah Cadman.

But many in the corridors of power at Birmingham City Council indicate the real costs to the city may have more to do with the failed implementation of the Oracle ERP system, which was procured to replace the previous SAP system under the advice of city officers serving at the time.

If this proves to be the case, city officials, such as Ms Cadman, will have many questions to answer about the role of the IT and HR support programme in Birmingham’s current financial crisis – which will see residents face on increase of over 20% in Council Tax across the next two years and £500m in public assets being sold to offset a loan from central government.

In response to Deborah Cadman’s resignation earlier today, Birmingham City Council leader and Labour councillor for Glebe Farm and Tile Cross Ward, John Cotton, said: “Deborah has led the council as Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service over the course of the last three years. Her commitment and contribution have been acknowledged by staff, partners and government.

“These have been incredibly difficult times and no one can doubt Deborah’s commitment to the council, the city and the region.”

Leader of the Birmingham Conservatives and councillor for the Erdington Ward, Robert Alden, added: “At a time of unprecedented crisis brought about by the Labour Cabinet, Birmingham now has no Chief Executive, an interim Chief Finance Officer and an interim Monitoring Officer.

“Report after report has talked about the impact of the high turnover rate of senior officers and the resulting loss of corporate memory, but Birmingham Labour have turned this City Council from a place once seen as the pinnacle of a local government career to a national pariah.

“Our great City needs great leadership, but time and again the political leadership has been found badly wanting and residents are paying the cost.”

NEWS: Councillor Robert Alden will not stand for Birmingham Erdington seat at upcoming General Election

Words and pics by Ed King / Profile pic of Cllr Robert Alden supplied by Birmingham Conservatives

Erdington Ward Councillor Robert Alden will not be standing for the Birmingham Erdington seat in the upcoming General Election – as he has done successively since 2010.

Birmingham Conservative members who live within the Erdington constituency will be voting for their new parliamentary candidate on Wednesday 13 March – alongside further votes to select Conservative candidates for the Erdington, Pype Hayes, and Kingstanding Wards.

Party members outside of the specific constituency and Ward boundaries will not be eligible to vote but have been invited to attend the selection meeting, where the nominees will be presented and voted on – to be held tonight at the Erdington Conservative Club on Orphanage Road from 7:30pm.

Whilst the date for the next General Election is yet to be set, in accordance with parliamentary process it must be called by 28 January 2025.

However, many have speculated Prime Minister Sunak will announce May as the month – with growing speculation about a ‘snap election’ following the recent defection of Conservative Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson to Reform UK.

Leader of the Birmingham Conservatives, Robert Alden has been an Erdington Ward councillor since 2006 after taking it from Labour – a position he now shares with Conservative running mate, Cllr Gareth Moore.

A prolific figurehead in the area, who lives in central Erdington, Cllr Alden stood against Erdington’s previous MP Jack Dromey in four General Elections. After the sudden death of Mr Dromey in 2022, he stood against Paulette Hamilton in the March ’22 by-election – losing a fiercely fought campaign with 36.3% of the turnout.

As a local councillor, Robert Alden has held the Erdington Ward with a comfortable majority – securing his position in the 2022 local elections with over 50% of the turnout.

A recognised campaigner, Cllr Alden has been a long supporter of community groups such as the Erdington Litter Busters – and was heavily involved in the fight to stop a housing development on Short Heath playing fields, backing the successful campaign led by the Short Heath Fields Trust.

Alongside Cllr Gareth Moore, Cllr Alden is currently campaigning to secure the future of Erdington Library, Perry Common Library, and Kingstanding Library, following fears they will be sold off by Birmingham City Council as part of a £500m assets sale to repay a loan from central government to tackle the city’s financial crisis.

However, at the time of writing it is unclear if Cllr Alden will also be withdrawing from contesting the Erdington Ward in the next City Council elections – as well as the Birmingham Erdington constituency in the General Election.

An email sent to Birmingham Conservative members in February said: “As an Association, we have been fortunate in that Cllr Robert Alden has kindly stood as our parliamentary candidate in five previous elections and has achieved some phenomenal results – turning Erdington from the safest Labour seat in Birmingham in 2005 to now the most marginal Labour-held seat in the City in what has sometimes been trying circumstances for the Party.”

The message continues: “Robert has decided to not stand as our parliamentary candidate on this occasion which means we need to choose a new candidate for the General Election.

“In addition to selecting our parliamentary candidate, afterwards the Association will be selecting our local government candidates for the 2026 elections for Erdington, Pype Hayes and Kingstanding Wards.”

Erdington Local has approached Cllr Alden for comment and has been told more information will be released after the selection meeting on 13 March.

For more from Cllr Robert Alden and Cllr Gareth Moore visit www.facebook.com/ErdingtonNews

NEWS: Free photo walks around Rookery Park and Erdington High Street – ahead of Green Spaces exhibition at Ikon Gallery

Words & pics by Ed King

Across March, a series of free to access photo walks and workshops will be held in Erdington – with Birmingham born photographer Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora inviting local residents to explore how green spaces and urban settings can impact their mental health.

Starting on Monday 4 March, the first photo walk will take place between 10:30am and 12noon – with subsequent workshops held at the same time on Monday 11 March and Monday 24 March.

The events will run for about 45mins each, with regular stops, and no previous experience of photography required to take part. Organisers have asked those attending to ‘wear suitable warm clothing and footwear for urban walking.’

Locations outlined for the photo walks include Rookery Park and Erdington High Street.

As well as the photography workshops, participants will have the option to display their work at Ikon Gallery in June as part of a special exhibition called Green Spaces – alongside portraits of those who attended the events in green spaces that are important to them, taken by Dhaliwal-Boora.

Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora is an award winning Birmingham photographer and multi disciplinarian artist, who uses her work to ‘empower and give voice’ to marginalised communities and explore how to visually capture and represent ethnicity, gender, and place.

Awarded the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain prize for three years running, from 2022-24, her previous work has been exhibited at the UN Headquarters in New York, Wembley Stadium, The People’s History Museum in Manchester, and at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022.

To see previous portraits taken by Dhaliwal-Boora, click here to visit her online portfolio or on the link below.

A collaboration between Ikon Gallery and Living Well Consortium – a group of 30 charities, volunteer groups, and not-for-profit mental health organisations – the Green Spaces project and exhibition are intended to ‘raise awareness of, and engagement with, topics centred on mental health and wellbeing’, according to organisers.

According to UK based mental health charity Mind, a quarter of the British population will experience mental health problems – with the Office of National Statistics finding the one in six people across the UK will experience depression at any one time.

Men’s suicide rates, often linked to mental health concerns or depression, are three time higher than women’s in the UK – as found in a report published by The Samaritans.

Green Spaces is scheduled to be on display at Ikon Gallery from 12–23 June, later this year.

For more information and to book a place on the Erdington photo walks, please email Green Spaces producer Amelia Hawk at a.hawk@ikon-gallery.org

To find out more about the Green Spaces photo walks and workshops in Erdington visit: www.ikon-gallery.org/news/view/photo-walks-and-workshops

For more on the Green Spaces exhibition at Ikon Gallery visit www.ikon-gallery.org/exhibition/green-spaces

For more on Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora visit www.jaskirtdhaliwalboora.com

NEWS: St Thomas’ Association raise £400 to support brain injury rehabilitation centre

Words by Ed King / Pics supplied by St Thomas’ Association and Google Maps)

Earlier this year, members of the St Thomas’ Association handed over a cheque of £400 to West Heath House – a Birmingham based rehabilitation centre that provides care and support for people recovering from brain injury.

The money was raised after kind hearted people at the Erdington social club, situated on Station Road, held fundraising raffles over six weeks and generated a total of £1000 for charity.

Donations were also made to Birmingham Hospice Partnership – who operate John Taylor Hospice on Grange Road, the Alzheimer’s Society – and Guide Dogs for the Blind. 

West Heath House, based in West Heath, is run by the national charity Brainkind and is and is one of the only places in the city that can offer ‘innovative rehabilitation and ongoing support to enable people to thrive after a brain injury.’

The South Birmingham facility was chosen by people from St Thomas’ Association after one of their longstanding members – Colin Anderson, who has played dominoes at the club for over 30 years – became a resident at West Heath House.

Staff from the centre took time from their own personal life to escort Colin to a special dominoes league presentation night at St Thomas’ Association in October last year, traveling across Birmingham and back again, and won the hearts of the people who use the club and know Colin.

After receiving the generous donation from St Thomas’ Association, West Heath House Service Manager, Paul Higgins, responded in writing by saying: ‘I would like to thank all members of the St Thomas Association for their amazingly kind donation. The money will be used for the people we support in a way of their choosing.’

St Thomas’ Association has been part of the Erdington community for nearly 130 years, having first opened its doors in 1895. The club recently had an upgrade worth £200k and offers a vibrant social and events calendar – alongside top of the range facilities for private parties, functions, and corporate bookings.

For more on St Thomas’ Association visit www.saint-toms.co.uk or call (0121) 373 4144

For more on West Heath House visit www.brainkind.org/services/west-heath-house

NEWS: Erdington locals get free tickets to Bhangra Nation – tonight at Birmingham Rep

Words by Ed King / Production pics by Craig Sugden

Erdington locals can get their hands on free and discounted tickets to see Bhangra Nation – A New Musical at the Birmingham Rep theatre tonight (Wednesday 28 February).

Starting at 7:30pm, the first 50 tickets of this evening’s performance will be totally free to the lucky Erdington residents who book online or over the phone between 12noon and 6pm on (0121) 236 4455 – using the discount code ERDINGTON.

All remining tickets for Bhangra Nation on Wednesday 28 February will be discounted to £5 to anyone with an Erdington address. The performance will also be British Sign Language (BSL) interpretated.

Bhangra Nation runs at Birmingham Rep until 16 March, with more discounts for Erdington residents on the evening performances between 4-6 March and both the matinee and evening performances on 7 March. For more information direct from the Birmingham Rep click here.

Adapted from the book Bhangra Nation by Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew, with music and lyrics by award winning musical theatre composer Sam Willmott, Bhangra Nation – A New Musical exploded on to the Rep stage earlier in February – telling the high octane story of a competitive bhangra team, Uni Bhangra, on their way to the national championship.

But as the dream starts to become a reality, the narrative explores the tug of war between traditional and modern values and ideals – told through the eyes and experience of teammates Preeti (Zaynah Ahmed) and Mary (Jena Pandya).

Directed by West End and Broadway’s Stafford Arima (Ragtime, A Class Act), and produced by the Tony Award- Mara Isaacs (Hadestown) and Tom Kirdahy (Hadestown, The Inheritance), Bhangra Nation – A New Musical is chorographer by Rujuta Vaidya – whose international credits across Hollywood and Bollywood include working with artists from Britney Spears to Priyanka Chopra.

Spokespeople from the production team told: “Bhangra Nation – A New Musical is a joyful, exuberant celebration of Bhangra and a deeply felt exploration of identity and community among young people finding their own way forward in the world.

“We can’t imagine a better home to help launch Bhangra Nation in the UK than in Birmingham.” 

Birmingham REP Artistic Director, Sean Foley, added: “I am beyond thrilled to be welcoming the amazing cast, the award-winning producing team, the extraordinary international creative team, and this spectacular show, to the Birmingham Rep.

“In a City that has a claim to be the modern centre of Bhangra, I’m looking forward to seeing the show connecting with both our South Asian communities, and with all audiences looking for a great night out.”

Bhangra Nation – A New Musical / A look behind the scenes

Bhangra Nation – A New Musical run at the Birmingham REP theatre until 16 March. For more information direct from the theatre, with links online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/bhangra-nation-a-new-musical

NEWS: “Throw good money after bad” – concerns raised over the real cost to fix Birmingham’s Oracle IT system

Words by Ed King

(The following article is part of an ongoing investigation with Birmingham Dispatch, looking into Birmingham financial crisis and governance issues. For more on The Dispatch, and to subscribe to their daily content, visit www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk )

Birmingham City Council remains shocking unclear as to just how much money – and time – it will take to fix their beleaguered IT system, as the reality of the Oracle scandal starts to come to light.

In a fraught audit committee meeting on Wednesday 21 February, the projected costs outlined to aid with the “reimplementation” of the financail management programme came under fierce scrutiny, with Cllr Meirion Jenkins (Con, Sutton Mere Green) asking “a straight forward question” about how many more paid consultancy days were needed until the problems was solved.

Cllr Meirion underpinned his concerns by reminding the committee “these people are coming in at £1000 per day… possibly more”, mirroring more widespread concerns over the City’s arguably exuberant expenditure on outside consultants.

He further compared the local authority debacle to the private sector, where, he argued, commercial companies would decide “we don’t want to throw good money after bad.”

In response, the City’s Interim Finance Director and Section 151 Officer, Fiona Greenway, admitted the Oracle recovery team “are getting to grips” with the situation and pulled back on providing “a set of numbers and deadlines… only to come back and say, actually they’ve changed.”

Greenway, the Council officer who issued the Section 114 Notice in September 2023 – effectively declaring Birmingham as bankrupt, has recently been appointed as the Council’s Senior Oracle Responsible Officer working underneath Oracle Programme Lead, Philip Macpherson.

Macpherson, who sat on a table alone with slumped shoulders throughout the 21 February Audit Committee meeting, further confirmed his team still has “a lot of work to do” and whilst “estimates” have been put into the Council’s budget to pay for the Oracle fiasco they may have to “refine those”.

Having already reportedly cost Birmingham City Council and its taxpayers £86m, in recent budget proposals for 2024/25 and 2025/26 a further £45m was allocated across the two years to help support the Oracle recovery.

But those projected costs now appear to be more wishful thinking than a concrete cashflow forecast, as an “options analysis” is still being done to decide the best way forward with Oracle.

Greenway further stated the need for an interim financial management system to avoid “a number of risks from manual workaround” as one of the “fundamental issues”, but did not clarify the cost for putting a new system in place “through due procurement process.”

Perhaps the only point that can be agreed upon is the importance of having a functioning system in place, as no financial recovery plan is fully possible without auditable accounts. The Commissioners appointed by Central Government to clean up Birmingham’s financial mess, led by Max Caller CBE, have cited the “Oracle recovery” as one of the “fundamental elements” of their plan to save the city.

But in the same statement, made ahead of the Audit Committee last week (21 February), Commissioners also call out Birmingham City Council for not having “demonstrated the ability and capability” to follow the advice to do so.

After bringing in external auditors Grant Thornton, recommendations over Oracle made to Birmingham City Council on 31 January 2024 again highlighted “a lack of Oracle knowledge” leaving the local authority “without the capability and expertise” to properly balance their books.

But the viability of the entire system is now seemingly under question, which since it’s initial ‘go live’ date nearly two years ago has never operated successfully – leaving the UK’s largest local government to manually “adjust inaccuracies” in its ledger.

Questioning whether the City had now in fact reached “the point of no return” with Oracle, Councillor Paul Tilsley CBE (Lib Dem, Sheldon) went on to challenge previous decisions not to pull the plug on the defunct system as it could have been “cheaper for (the Council) to start again”.

Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) also questioned the strength of any previous analysis, which was reportedly conducted after the first failings in the Oracle system were addressed, asking that “when the new options appraisal is shared, we can make sure the old one is shared too.”

However, Mark Stocks, Grant Thornton’s Head of Public Sector/Not for Profit Audit and author of their recommendations made to Birmingham City Council on 31 January, explained the Council were still “a way away from making that decision” – leaving the future of the Oracle system, and the costs involved in fixing or replacing it, hanging in the balance.

Erdington Local has asked Birmingham City Council for a breakdown to the costs for the Oracle recovery to date, and to clearly identify how much of the projected budget would be allocated to outside consultants or technical support.

It is expected the ongoing financial and logistical concerns over the Oracle system will be addressed at the Cabinet meeting held today, on Tuesday 27 February.

If you would like to get in touch about any of the issues raised in this article, or around Birmingham City Council’s ongoing financial crisis, please email: edking@erdingtonlocal.com

NEWS: Eden Café to be taken over by new management from March

Words & pics by Ed King


 
Eden Café, on Reservoir Rd, just off Six Ways roundabout, is to be taken over by new management from March this year – with the official launch scheduled for April.

2 Much Passion, a local Community Interest Company (CIC) ‘committed to teaching and creating mouthwatering projects’ and encouraging ‘real life cooking that will impact (on people’s) health and well being’ has been using the Eden Café kitchen for their community food solution projects.

But the CIC made the decision to move permanently into the YMCA owned site this spring, to extend their community support and breathe new life into the beleaguered café.


 
Already running a Warm Space facility from Eden Café on Wednesdays and Fridays between 12:30pm and 4:30pm, and a Community Pantry on Thursdays between 10am and 2pm, 2 Much Passion are looking forward to getting the once popular hub back open to the general public.

The hardworking CIC also have ambitious plans to extend their community outreach and support programmes, which currently provide lunches to the Northcroft Hospital “on a daily basis” and saw them use Eden’s kitchen to make meals to feed up to a thousand people a day during the summer.


 
There are also plans to bring live music and entertainment to the site, mirroring the current Eden Café strapline that declares the venue offers ‘more than coffee’.

Managing Director of 2 Much Passion, Vanessa Kelly, told Erdington Local: “We are looking forward to being the go to community café, providing the community led food solutions that Erdington really needs.

“We operate the Warm Welcome and Community Pantry, but for people using the café they will know that by buying a coffee or a meal with us that is being reinvested back into the community.

“We want people to know that Eden is there for benefit of the community, and with the cost of living crisis and everything that’s happening we don’t want anyone to go to bed hungry. So, if you can afford to – you can buy. But if you can’t we will feed you.

“By eating with us you support us to feed somebody else.”


 
For more on 2 Much Passion CIC visit www.2muchpassioncic.co.uk

For more on Eden Café visit www.facebook.com/eden.coffee.erdington/