Title

FINANCE

Brum proposes £300m cuts

Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council will cut spending on services by £300m to balance its books.

Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council will cut spending on services by £300m to balance its books.

The UK's biggest local authority will also hike council tax by 21% over the next two years from April, according to its budget proposals for 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Documents released by Birmingham alongside the budget proposals confirmed the Government has approved £1.25bn of exceptional financial support – in the form of loans that must be paid back partly through asset sales.

Council leader John Cotton apologised ‘unreservedly' for the spending reductions and council tax increase.

He said: ‘We have no alternative than to face these challenges head on and we will do whatever is necessary to put the council back on a sound financial footing.'

The local authority has warned that up to 600 posts may be axed.

Birmingham was forced to issue a section 114 notice in September.

The council is facing liabilities for equal pay claims of nearly £800m.

FINANCE

Children's social care inquiry reveals system strain and reform

By Martin Ford | 16 October 2026

A picture of a system under strain emerged as a wide-ranging inquiry into children’s social care got under way.

FINANCE

Call for long-term EFS plan

By Dan Peters | 15 October 2026

The Government must turn exceptional financial support (EFS) into a ‘managed recovery regime rather than a series of annual decisions’, a public finance chie...

FINANCE

The route out of EFS

By Owen Mapley | 15 October 2026

Exceptional financial support to councils must become a bridge back to sustainability, says Owen Mapley.

FINANCE

Autumn Budget: Funding counties' growth

By Steve Broadbent | 14 October 2026

Counties hold the key to growth and public service reform, but the Budget must match ambition with investment, says Steve Broadbent.

Popular articles by William Eichler

-->