Birmingham City Council will need 'bold and tenacious' leadership to deliver its latest financial plans, according to its Independent Improvement Panel.
A letter to communities secretary Sajid Javid, said the council’s budget plans are ‘reasonably credible, robust and theoretically deliverable’.
However, the letter also highlights additional risks, which ‘threaten the achievement of financial sustainability,’ including the introduction of a new future operating model, which will require ‘bold, focused, suitably experienced and tenacious managerial leadership’.
Chair of the panel, John Crabtree, said: ‘We are pleased that new financial plans are now in place, and these are more robust and credible.
‘The plans and strategies, however, will not be easy to implement. Some implementation timetables are still extremely ambitious and the risks to achieving fully effective delivery are high.’
Responding to the report, council leader, Cllr John Clancy, said: ‘I am pleased that the panel believes the council’s 2017/18 budget proposals to be credible and robust and has identified improved arrangements for monitoring the delivery of savings.
‘The panel has noted that the Local Government Association-sponsored independent financial review team reported a strong resolve among senior managers and members to avoid the problems experienced in 2016/17,’ added Cllr Clancy.
The MJ has exclusively revealed today that the council's outgoing chief executive Mark Rogers is likely to receive a £500,00 exit payment, although the council has denied the claims.
