To think Councils going bust are not all at fault?

[Turmerictolly]

Another council (Birmingham) declaring bankruptcy/severe financial difficulties. Yes, there has been some financial mismanagement but decades of austerity and squeeze from a Tory government haven't helped. I have connections to Birmingham and feel sorry for the sorry state it's in - the streets are filthy and depressing in a lot of areas.

Yes, as was the case nationwide. The gender pay gap hasn't disappeared even now, this is not a Birmingham only issue.

The fact it was wrong doesn't mean the current councillors were responsible.

I'm not saying the pay situation was right, I'm saying it isn't something Birmingham residents should be responsible for paying for.

It is ordinary taxpayers who will suffer.

What is the benefit of that?

Really? That's ridiculous- what's the expenses they claim? Wear and tear on shoes?

@MidnightOnceMore where do you feel the money should come from, out of interest?

The women get paid their due?

No students shouldn't pay.

Wages for low income workers should be higher.

We have to stop trying to drag everyone further down.

They have to pay it somehow. They can't go back in time. They should have been paying it all along so if anything it's like a loan being called in.

Students have lots of money?! Hahahaha

@MidnightOnceMore students should pay. They aren't exempt. Increasing wages doesn't mean anything when the cost of living is so high.

My point is students use the services, and don't contribute. So make them contribute, like the adults they are.

The amount of hassle they cause to local areas as well with their drunkness etc.

That's not under dispute.

Do you understand the difference between a local authority and a private business?

Is more deaths amongst social care service users or reduced support for at risk children your desired outcome?

I’m sure during the many years women were routinely underpaid compared to men, the Council was probably employing a number of highly paid Equality & Diversity Officers who were clearly missed the elephant in the room. And where were the unions whilst this was allowed to go on for years? The Council and its HR function are completely to blame. Did they do no job/ pay comparison reviews ever?

I did some agency work for a local council and was shocked at how much waste went on.

Me moved offices and they threw so much stuff away even perfectly good stationary because they couldn't be bothered moving it.

They chucked out structural reports on their own housing stock, even when there was no back up copy. They said if they needed it then would just pay for a new one.

The amount of sickness was ridiculous. One lady tool two weeks off for a broken toe. He job was to sit on reception and she never normally moved around.

Two people would do the job of one person.

The waste of paper and photocopying was off the scale.

Coming from private practice I was shocked.

I really am not surprised that they are going bust.

No one was accountable for anything. It wasn't their money they were wasting.

This was an equal pay claim not a gender pay claim which is very different legally. Screw up on gender pay, nothing happens apart from bad headlines, screw up on equal pay and it can cost you big time as in this case.

Companies with a bit of intelligence keep a very close eye on equal pay for this reason. Doesn’t mean that they get it right every time, but in the most part try to correct any wrongs.

This ^^

In fairness I've no direct knowledge of Birmingham council, but this is certainly the case in my own east midlands city and the one "next door"

Also the black hole they've created by underpaying women shows very clearly they haven't a clue what they're doing

Students are exempt. That's the legal situation.

They bring huge amounts into local areas. The closest university to me has 10,000 well paid jobs. Students spend a fortune in the local economy.

Attacking the sector is shortsighted.

Dragging everyone down to poverty is not a growth strategy.

Course it isn't. I don't run the council. But if I personally had been underpaid for years I would want that to be rectified.

Yes obviously. That's why they've brought the claim.

Oh dear.

Birmingham CC has always been a hugely unwieldy behemoth. I'm a Brummie and was shocked that I pay considerably more council tax than some London boroughs.

It's shockingly mismanaged. And I say that as someone who was on their payroll.

The ridiculous Oracle system completely fucked up my pay and that of several colleagues.

The historic underpayment of female staff is an absolute disgrace.

I temped in a BCC dept recently and was shocked by how many people were off long-term sick / got away with doing very little / were a total waste of space. I'm not talking about the teachers / TAs / binmen / hands on frontline staff. The admin is Kafka-esque in the bureaucracy and pointlessness...

Frankly, I hope that this gives BCC a massive kick up the arse that it needs.

Birmingham City Council is a disgrace and has been for years.

They sold their "crown jewels" the NEC Group for £300m which was an absolute joke to settle this claim which is still ongoing.

Two years later the purchaser sold it on for £800m. Same management team in place, no major changes.

Added to this the number of times essential services have fallen in to special measures or near to.

It's too big and out of control. I'm absolutely mortified for what they have done to our city.

Similar experiences here, SkiingIsHeaven. Only last week I went into the Council House, where they have a new "take a ticket" system - only despite ample signs there were three people standing round a desk to tell pople this, two more at the very simple machine to "help" and yet another two pointing out the chairs (5 yards away) where visitors had to wait

Yes, thank you for pointing out that's a chair - I'd never have worked it out without you

I don’t know where you are but my SE LA is doing this too. So much money wasted because so many people are involved in what are often straightforward allocation of resources tasks
I really hope we are the same LA and it’s not country wide.

I think they are old claims from 2012 and before when it wasn’t labour controlled.

It’s to do with bonuses. Low paid jobs typically done by women E.g. TAs, carers, school cooks etc didn’t get bonuses. Jobs typically done by men E.g. bin men, street cleaners did. GMB are taking a number of other councils to court for this so Birmingham are unlikely to be the only council who ends up going bankrupt.

I’m not quite sure why the liability bill is being paid now though. It’s a bit difficult to piece together from the media stories.

And that is what they still owe - they have already had to pay 1 billion.

YANBU. It is ludicrous that councils literally cannot afford to comply with their statutory responsibilities to provide for children with SEN, and that's just one example of their gross underfunding.

@Wsmi absolutely! Let’s get the private sector to show them how it’s done - they’re so much better! We can start by handing over our water companies so the private sector can clean up the water!

Oh . . . hold on. That didn’t work did it 🙄