Tag: Deborah Cadman

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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.”

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NEWS: Birmingham City Council agree Financial Recovery Plan which could see Erdington assets sold and a rise in Council Tax

Words by Ed King

On Monday 25 September, Birmingham’s elected officials approved a Financial Recovery Plan which could see assets from Erdington and across the city sold to pay off the Council’s debt, as well as a potential rise in Council Tax introduced.

In a heated four hour Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), councillors from the city’s ten constituencies debated the two Section 114 notices recently issued – which effectively declared the city ‘bankrupt’, highlighting Birmingham City Council (BCC) does not have enough financial reserves to balance its books – before voting on a four point strategy presented by BCC Chief Executive Deborah Cadman.

The first recommendation in the BCC Financial Recovery Plan was to ‘Agree to accept the Section 114 notice issued on 5th September 2023’, allowing the Council to move forward and work with government appointed commissioners. The vote was carried.

The following three recommendations outlined approaches that could either save or generate money for BCC, including an ‘Assets Review to identify options to raise funds’ – which could pave the way for Erdington’s libraries, parks, community hubs, and leisure centres being sold on the commercial market, alongside other BCC assets from across the city.

Also included were spending control measures until emergency and balanced budgets could be approved, a potential ‘Organisational Redesign’ of ‘services around citizens’, and an ‘Income Review to maximise sustainable income from all sources’ – including Business Rates, Council Tax, and Grants. The vote for these recommendations was also carried.

According to BCC’S official list of property published in 2019 – the latest Erdington Local could find – the Erdington constituency has 464 assets owned by Birmingham City Council, excluding social housing and operational public highways.

These include social hubs such as both Erdington and Kingstanding Leisure Centres, Highcroft Community Centre, Elim Pentecostal Church, the Magnet Centre, The British Legion Social Club in Perry Common, Stockland Green Sports Centre, and Lakeside Childrens and Family Learning Centre.

These Erdington facilities could now be sold to address the financial crisis faced by Birmingham City Council.

Birmingham City Council could also look to sell the green spaces in its portfolio, which according to the 2019 published portfolio includes allotments across Erdington – from Castle Vale to Wyrley Birch – Erdington Playing Fields, Twickenham Road Playing Fields, Short Heath Playing Fields, Spring Lane Playing Fields, and Yenton Playing Fields.

Larger public spaces such as Brookvale Park, Rookery Park, Highcroft Park, and Pype Hayes Park could also be sold – alongside Perry Common and Witton Lakes.

Also back under question is Erdington Library, which recently fought off a proposal from BCC that would have seen its entire facility squeezed into the corner children’s library area, and Erdington Baths, which was recently promised £2m from BCC to aid the development of an Enterprise Hub – as delivered by Witton Lodge Community Association (WLCA).

Birmingham City Council is facing a projected deficit of £87m for 2023/24 and legal bill of ‘between £650 million and £760 million’ for new claims over equal pay, having already remunerated thousands of historic claimants over £1bn in liabilities.

In response to the growing financial crisis faced by BCC, the first Section 114 notice was issued by Birmingham City Council’s Interim Director of Finance, Fiona Greenway, on 5 September.

A following notice was then issued on 21 September, alongside a further Section 5 notice from the City Solicitor, after calls of inaction over plans for a workable job evaluation scheme.

Ahead of commissioners coming to take over Birmingham’s finances – as appointed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) – a Financial Recovery Plan was published by the BCC Chief Executive, Deborah Cadman, on 25 September.

An Extraordinary General Meeting was held that evening, with all councillors requested to attend, to debate and vote on the recommendations presented.

Council Leader John Cotton (Glebe Farm and Tile Cross, Labour) was the first elected official to speak, stating “(Birmingham City) Council is at a crossroads” and recognising the “severe challenges that we face”.

Cllr Cotton went on to “apologise to the people of Birmingham” for the “stark choices” and “worrying times” as the City presents a plan to save itself from financial ruin.

Erdington Ward councillor and Leader of Birmingham Conservatives, Robert Alden, was next to speak, acknowledging the “sad day for the city” and “tragic” circumstances Birmingham City Council now found itself in, following a “shameful amount of inaction across the summer” from the Council leadership.

Cllr Alden further presented a litany of official opportunities and advice given to BCC to address the equal pay liabilities over recent years, as well as highlighting the debt accrued was “a council issue” and that “the city of Birmingham has a bright future ahead of it; the city of Birmingham is full of amazing people.”

Alden added:  “And the city will rise like a phoenix from the ashes of this mess that’s been created by the Labour administration.”

A total of 30 local councillors stood up to address the Lord Mayor and Council Chamber during the EGM on Monday, 25 September – including Cllr Alden’s counterpart in the Erdington Ward, Cllr Gareth Moore.

Cllr Moore was quick to admit he was “quite frankly embarrassed and ashamed” over the “unprecedented” financial crisis facing the city.

He added: “Birmingham is an amazing city full of passionate people with a rich and diverse history, and yet the reputation and finances of this Council have been ruined by chronic mismanagement by the Labour leadership”.

No councillors from any of the remining six political Wards in the Erdington constituency spoke at the EGM, although time cut short the requests from six elected officials who were not given the chance to address the Chamber.

Commissioners appointed by the DLUHC will now begin working with Birmingham City Council to address the financial crisis.