https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...ngham-66715441
I know Birmingham has it's own unique issues but won't be long before we see others go the same way.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...ngham-66715441
I know Birmingham has it's own unique issues but won't be long before we see others go the same way.
15 point deduction for Brum I reckon.
That's a terrible mismanagement of funds, how could that possibly happen, what party runs Birmingham?Quote:
Originally Posted by WJ99mobile
Why do you think councils that have to spend huge amounts on social care , children's services and aging transport systems tend to struggle financially ?Quote:
Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue
Why do you think councils in places like Surrey , Berkshire , Oxfordshire , Hertfordshire etc generally don't struggle ?
You think it's because they are conservative led ?
Don't insult your own intelligence
"Local authority ‘spending power’ – the amount of money authorities have to spend from government grants, council tax and business rates – fell by 17.5% between 2009/10 and 2019/20, before partially recovering. However, in 2021/22 it was still 10.2% below 2009/10 levels.
The fall in spending power is largely because of reductions in central government grants. These grants were cut 40% in real terms between 2009/10 and 2019/20, from £46.5bn to £28.0bn (2023/24 prices). This downward trend was reversed in 2020/21 and 2021/22 as central government made more grant funding available to local government in response to the pressures of the pandemic. Though even including Covid grants the fall in income from was 21% in real terms between 2009/10 and 2021/22; without, the fall was 31%."
https://www.instituteforgovernment.o...unding-england
Over the last year the extra pressures are pay rises, increased energy costs, increased supplier costs and pay equality settlements coupled with no new money provided by Central government to cover any of these increases.
I suspect Birmingham will be the first of many to declare bankruptcy
Birmingham is Conservative-led?Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
I didn't know that I live in Wales.
The NHS would be bankrupt year after year if the government didn't bail it out but no such luxury afforded local councils
No Birmingham is labour ledQuote:
Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue
As are most councils that get into financial bother
But it's got nothing to do with that which is the point you were trying to push
But I am afraid you have fallen on your ass
I recoin many of us could reduce expenditure by 40% just using common sense and not paying excessive executive salaries.....without affecting services.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
OK fair enough why did you say it was Conservative?
The reason for such rampant financial problems since 2010 when your bloody tories came in is the huge reduction in block grant from the governmentQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
It's all outlined above for you
Less and less income , more and more demand for services
Now we , ccfc can hopefully compete in the lower half of the championship but with the club not really spending any money we are unlikely to do well
It's the same sort of thing
I didntQuote:
Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue
The old adage..."you cut your cloth......" when I lived in Aberdare, after looking at their accounts I volunteered to the council to undertake an audit (free) with a view to reducing costs and optimising services.....(after all I did used to run my own business unit and sat on a board of directors...).Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Unsurprisingly they declined. You must realise - even you - that there is so much wasted expenditure in local government.
Every year for 13 years?Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Not 40% each year obviously....but it's just like budgeting on home expenditure...just on a larger scale.Quote:
Originally Posted by Undercoverinwurzelland
I work in local government Mo, and i'll tell you this, it's brutal. I work on Housing repairs and we're nailed down to doing the minimum required, even if it looks utter shit and by no fault of the trades person (in most cases) the quality and standard of work is greatly compromised. It's demoralising not just for the operative, but for the Tennant as well. I'm given 4 or 5 hours on a job that needs 2 days in order to do a good job that will last. It's cut to the bone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
It isn't like budgeting on home expenditure, nothing like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Of course it is....the principle is the same...you estimate what you get in and then budget what goes out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuerto
When I ran a business unit....I balanced what revenue I could get with what staff/services I could provide.
With respect though Mo, that's a bit simplistic. There are so many variables in running a local authority. And i'm not saying that money isn't wasted, because it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Apart from cuts in central funding, Birmingham Council were landed with a huge bill for equal pay claims. This has been an ongoing issue for years, pre Covid. That they have wasted so much money on IT is another issue. Their version of ULEZ hasn't helped either. I may be misquoting Jasper Carrot but, his comment about "if Britain was given an enema, Brum is where the tube would be inserted" holds true. It's turning into Detroit.Quote:
Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue
That can't be true, there is shed loads of money to change all the speed signs in Wales, and give millionaires free Viagra and cough medicine, how could they possibly do that if money is tight as those don't seem like the highest priority needs?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuerto
Surely ministers wouldn't sanction fanciful ideas that the public doesn't even want when there are genuine needs?
Yes I read the IT quotes to update their system.....Jeepers....I was a business director with a software company in London......dealing with Lloyds Bank/Prudential /Royal and Sun/Oracle/Tesco/Sainsbury/M&S etc......Quote:
Originally Posted by IanD
These sort of figures they are reputed to have paid are pure fantasy.....it;s the like of Capita et al in screwing people who have no knowledge...like MANY areas of government.
So how do you reduce looked after children costs by 40% or the rising costs of elderly care in the community by 40% - things that no high flying private executive can control ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
It was Tory run when the pay disputes occured but you knew that.Quote:
Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue
And now comment on Northamptonshire and Thurrock..
Absolute nonsenseQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
No wonder you are living the life of luxury in the dordogne
You reduce overheads...salaries of top execs etc....and other (much) extraneous expenditure...Quote:
Originally Posted by Nobody's Rep
Not sure what you mean by high flying executive..
It doesn't affect him so he can make daft comments thinking a 40 percent cut is manageable and all down to left wing wasteQuote:
Originally Posted by Nobody's Rep
Hopefully he hasn't got a proxy vote
I live a good life (not luxury) because I planned and lived within my means in the UK...it is called forward planning....maybe that is an alien concept to you...Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
The salaries of chief executives is chicken feed compared to the costs of running a huge local authority subject to central government cutsQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Have you been in the sun all day ?
You silly old toryQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Plenty of people live a good life and don't boast about it
Pompous nonsense
I live a good life (not luxury) because I planned and lived within my means in the UK...it is called forward planning....maybe that is an alien concept to you...Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Oh and yes I DO have a proxy vote...although when most in South Wales at leat would elect a donkey with a red rosette it makes no difference....
Look..I grew up in a two up two down terrace house in Cymmer,Porth...outside toilet which froze in winter...........my father dug coal in Ynysybwl Colliery by hand....fractured his skull.....leg amputated by accidents in the mines....Don't lecture me on moralities. I moved on and made my life better....
The only decent administration for the Rhondda was when Annie Powell (Communist ) was mayor (and I am NOT advocating communism.)
I am playing the world's smallest violinQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
You were born in the wrong barn
Thankfully a tory like you is a wasted vote ❎
You were advocating The National Rally a few weeks back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Isn't the problem in Birmingham due to the fact the Council had been underpaying their female workforce forcing the Council to backpay with the resultant unsustainable debt.Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Well..there you go again...sad man.
Is that supposed to mean anything??
No further response..I will leave others to judge.....they know your idiosynchries well...
The backpay is part of the situation but the reduction in block grant since 2010 is the keyQuote:
Originally Posted by Vindec
I strongly suggest this should be moved to the Alternative forum if it is to continue.
Some of this might have helped ....Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuerto
https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2023-...end-it-in-time
They are, completely fu***ng useless.
It means stop being so pompousQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Swan
Just because you have done well enough to emigrate doesn't mean you can make ridiculous comments about the financial problems of Birmingham City Council based upon your upbringing in Aberdare
Spend a few hours in the shade Mo