Troubled council outlines resignation scheme

All staff at Birmingham City Council are being asked to consider resigning, as part of the struggling council’s plans to make savings.

After overspending by £80m on malfunctioning IT system Oracle, the council was also hit by a £760m equal pay liability and halted all non-essential spending. A total of £1.1bn has already been paid over the last decade in relation to the settlement of Equal Pay claims.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ruled out a bailout saying it was “not the government’s job to bail out the council for its financial mismanagement”.

All 10,000 staff received information regarding the ‘Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme’.

Birmingham City Council told TheBusinessDesk.com: “The Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS) was launched on Monday 21 August, with information on the scheme sent to all the city council’s employees.

“As part of the council’s budgetary savings plan for this financial year, MARS is a voluntary scheme open for employees to apply.

“During this period and beyond, our focus continues to be on delivering high-quality services that our city’s residents and communities deserve.”