William Eichler 14 December 2023

Birmingham outlines £150m of cuts

Birmingham outlines £150m of cuts image
Image: Tupungato / Shutterstock.com.

Birmingham City Council has outlined nearly £150m of proposed savings as it tries to plug a £300m budget gap.

The council’s children and families department could see the biggest reduction to their budget with £57m of savings proposed.

City operations could see a cut of £29m, while adult social care could see their budget reduced by nearly £22m.

Council management is facing a nearly 50% budget decrease of around £15.6m.

The local authority was forced to declare itself effectively bankrupt in September and is facing a £87.4m overspend for 2023/24 and a budget gap of around £300m by 2025/26.

Cllr John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ‘The council is in an unprecedented situation as we need to find in excess of £250m savings over the next two years. As well as having to reset our finances we have to fundamentally change how we deliver services.

‘No detailed decisions have been made at this stage and there will be a consultation period so we can hear the views of residents and businesses. However, we have been clear that we will have to make very difficult decisions given the financial challenge we face - to do otherwise is not an option.’

If this article was of interest, then check out, 'Can local government take much more?', 'Preventing future Section 114 notices' and 'How to fix local government finance'.

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