The Commissioners who were appointed when Birmingham City Council declared a Section 114 notice in 2023 have released their first assessment of the progress made. Although dated April 2024, the report was only made public last week.
You can read it in full here.
It's a pretty damning report and highlights several major failures to date.
Interestingly, it confirms that the council has a 2-year path to acheive financial stability, whilst a mere 2 paragraphs later when referrencing the failed implementation of the Oracle IT system states, "it will be some years before the Council regains full control of its accounts." How can this be?
This again supports our plea for the council to reduce the urgency of the cuts and the pace of change. Pushing through a 2-year plan of severe cuts will have drastic implications for the residents of Birmingham. The loss of community assets across the city will be irreversable; the negative impacts of which will continue to be felt for years to come.
A longer term plan where meaningful community engagement can take place must be considered.
