#birmingham-city-council

#birmingham-city-council

Birmingham city council was likely never bankrupt and the decision to issue the section 114 notice two years ago was based on unaudited and materially incorrect information, accounting experts have claimed. The Labour-run council issued a section 114 notice in September 2023, in effect declaring itself bankrupt, which triggered a wave of spending cuts and plans to sell 750m worth of assets. This prompted the government to appoint commissioners to run the council for five years.

The council's financial management has been unable to file auditable accounts since it replaced an aging - but functioning - SAP system with new cloud-based software from Oracle. Although the council had expected to implement the system out-of-the-box, it made customized modifications including the introduction of the BRS, which failed to function as planned. The council was declared effectively bankrupt in September 2023, because of the ERP disaster and outstanding equal pay claims.

“We want the council to come to their senses today. We want the leader of the council John Cotton to come into the negotiating room. He has not yet been in the negotiating room and he needs to be so we can get this dispute solved.”