Birmingham city council, the largest local authority in the country, has in effect declared itself bankrupt after issuing a section 114 notice, signalling that it does not have the resources to balance its budget.
The notice, preventing all but essential spending to protect core services, was issued on Tuesday with council leaders blaming a £760m bill for equal pay claims, problems installing a new IT system and £1bn in government cuts over the past decade.
The council said “it does not have the resources” to fund its equal pay liability, and has a gap in its current budget of £87m.
In a statement, the leader and deputy leader of the Labour-run council, John Cotton and Sharon Thompson, said: “Like local authorities across the…
