Simon Gilbert
BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

Dangerous defects on Birmingham’s roads will be repaired on a “reactive” basis rather than in a planned fashion.

The shift would come as a result of around £12m of planned cuts to the council’s highways maintenance budget.

The department is responsible for monitoring and repairing deterioration in the condition of roads including footpaths, street lighting, traffic signals and signage.

The council’s impact assessment reads: “Dangerous defects on the networks will still get attended on a reactive basis rather than the current mix of planned and reactive maintenance.”

Ramandeep Kaur has previously spoken with the BBC about problems her disabled son faced while trying to access his savings account.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter), external, the campaigner said Harry now faced losing his home to school transport.

Image source, Ramandeep Kaur

Ms Kaur, from Sutton Coldfield, said millions of pounds in cuts would mean she couldn't get him to school.

"My council does not care about its children," she wrote.

Simon Gilbert
BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

All community centres under the management of Birmingham City Council would no longer be funded by the authority under the budget plans.

Council documents show 11 facilities would lose funding “unless required for the delivery of statutory services, or to support cross-cutting programmes such as Early Intervention and Prevention”.

Image source, Google

The funding would stop by April 2026, and would save an estimated £300,000 in annual running costs.

Initially, the council wants to transfer the facilities to local communities to run themselves - but if that proves unviable, then “alternative disposal routes will be pursued including market-rent leases or sale.”

Ten community centres are listed on the council’s website:

• Friends' Institute, Sparkbrook
• Kings Heath Community Centre
• Ladywood Health and Community centre
• Mere Green Community Centre
• Oddingley Hall, Kings Norton
• Sheldon Community Centre
• Sparkbrook Community Centre
• Summerfield Community Centre, Winson Green
• Walmley Centre
• Wylde Green Centre, Sutton Coldfield

A carers' charity has said the proposed cuts to Birmingham's social care budget will have a "devastating impact" on unpaid carers.

Dominic Carter, the Carers Trust’s Director of Policy and Public Affairs, said: "Unpaid carers tell us they’re already under huge strain, with many having to give up paid work and being plunged into poverty."

He said after the cuts "they will now be left with no option but to shoulder extra caring responsibilities, pushing them to breaking point".

Image source, Carers Trust

Mr Carter said it was time the government "fixed local government finance and introduced a long-term plan for social care".

He also said it was not right to rely on "already stretched" unpaid carers to "pick up the pieces of a broken system".

Simon Gilbert
BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

One of the causes of Birmingham’s financial problems is also hindering attempts to find solutions.

There have been problems implementing the council’s finance and HR system, called Oracle, ever since they switched it on in 2022. Around £86m had already been spent on trying to get the system to work.

But it still doesn’t work properly, and that’s a problem when you’re trying to set a budget.

Calculations are having to be done manually and that has delayed work to sign off previous accounts and forecast budget spending.

The picture looks set to get worse before it gets better. An additional £45m has now been allocated in this budget to try and fix issues with Oracle over the next two years.

Another move that will impact those experiencing difficult times is an uplift in charges for bereavement services.

As of 1 May 2023, it costs £833 to cremate a person aged 19 years or above.

That will rise by £117 to £1,000 in the 24/25 financial year, a 13.25% increase.

Image source, Getty Images

A standard grave for a coffin or casket up to 30ins (76.2cm) in width for a resident aged 19 years or above currently costs £2,270.

This will jump to £2,500, a rise of more than 10%.

More from Councillor Robert Alden now. He's been speaking to BBC Radio WM's Kathryn Stanczyszyn this morning.

The Conservative opposition leader accused the Labour administration of dragging its feet, and urged leaders to take ownership rather than blaming central Government.

"Without doubt this is the most devastating set of cuts anyone's ever tried to force on the people of Birmingham," he said.

Pressed on what he would do differently if in power, Mr Alden said a Conservative-run council would have taken action last summer.

Mr Alden said the local authority should have looked at sharing services with neighbouring local councils and how to tackle what he called back-office costs.

BBC Radio WM

Nadine from Edgbaston believes council officers should be held accountable, but said the elected members should share some responsibility, because "they should have overseen this".

It has made her think twice about her political loyalties. She said: "I'm a Labour supporter, I've voted Labour all my life and I'm finding that very hard to swallow this year and tick that box."

Jason said: "Birmingham City Council are now getting us to pay off their debt and the councillors fly high and don't worry about the average person."

Simon Gilbert
BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

Documents show the council will review all discretionary spending on travel for children ranging from pre-school age to 16. Around 5,000 children currently use the Young People’s Travel Service and 95% of children using the service are thought to have special educational needs.

All funded transport for children who live less than three miles from their school or college will be cancelled under the plans.

The council assessment says students “May also be impacted by longer journeys if parents require to use public transport to support attendance. There is likely to be an impact on families who will need to support their children's travel to and from educational settings.”

BBC Radio WM

Sundeep from Great Barr said he was "really disgusted at the council tax rising by 21%" over two years.

He believes it will mean him paying an extra £200 each year and said: "It's going to make things really tough."

He told BBC Radio WM he was "already struggling with the gas and electric prices going up and the water"

Sundeep also said he worried a move to fortnightly bin collections would mean "more fly-tipping and more rubbish on the streets".

Image source, Getty Images

Laura in Bartley Green cares for her 24-year-old son who is severely disabled.

She uses council-funded day care facilities and said the cuts to social care were "absolutely brutal".

She said: "I don't see how they can take £75m out of a pot that was already empty."

Laura told us that if her son's day-care is cut she would probably have to give up work "which means I lose my wage and then have to pay for a 21% increase in council tax".

Simon Gilbert
BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

What we have seen is the draft budget plans for the council. Those plans will have to go through a process before they are officially signed off.

That process has been delayed – but it now looks like this: members of the council’s cabinet will consider the papers on 27 February where they will be expected to sign off the plans.

The plans then advance to the full council on 5 March for all councillors to consider and vote on.

Image source, Getty Images

So could the plans change? The short answer is yes. They will be consulted on and there is the opportunity for some tinkering.

But, in reality, they won’t change much. The commissioners have made their feelings clear. Among their notes attached to the front of the plans is one stand out quote: “There are no other choices available.”

BBC Radio WM

There has been a lot of anger at Birmingham City Council's plans on BBC Radio WM this morning.

Rob called in to ask: "Couldn't they at least soften the blow and done a 7% over three years?

"Where are the hard-working people that are struggling already going to find this money from?"

He also said the council had promised fortnightly bin collections "would never happen".

Shirin said: "My council tax is going up by 20% for their mistakes, I'm going to feel less safe on the street for their mistake, I'm going to have less money in my pocket for their mistake, that is wrong."

As we told you earlier, waste collections for the people of Birmingham will become fortnightly from 2025-26.

But it won't be the first time the city has seen its rubbish picked up every two weeks.

In February 2019, the council said bins would be collected fortnightly to ensure a "reliability of service" during industrial action by the Unite union.

A number of authorities, including neighbouring Wolverhampton City Council, already operate fortnightly bin collections as standard.

The 2025 change will be piloted in selected areas first, council papers said.

BBC Radio WM

We've been asking people in the Northfield area of Birmingham what they make of the council's budget plans.

One man, Paul, said: "The council's a joke and we've got to pay more money for that to receive less."

He said: "What Birminghamers should do is en-masse not pay it, but no-one'll ever do that."

Business owner Gary Bevis told us: "Everyone in Northfield is just about surviving, the council's just making it worse and worse and worse."

He said he was thinking of shutting his business down and accused the council of "forgetting about Northfield".

Phil Mackie
BBC News Midlands correspondent

One thing that many people will be wondering is whether, among the council’s wider sale of assets, the city’s extensive art collection could be put up for sale.

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has been closed for renovations for 4 years, and has only recently been partially reopened, but even when fully open only a very small part of its collection will be put on public view.

It’s extremely unlikely that its most valuable artefacts like those from the Staffordshire hoard or some of its best-known paintings like “The Last of England” by Ford Maddox Brown would go, but some of the lesser known works could still be sold to raise millions of pounds for the cash-strapped council.

BBC Radio WM

People have been calling BBC Radio WM this morning to give their thoughts on the budget plans.

Brian in Smethwick said: "I am very upset about the lights being dimmed. The lights are there for safety reasons. Dimming them will make the streets and roads less safe for people."

Another caller, John, said the decisions would mean "taking more money from working people" and he asked: "Why do you never hear them say we've made the difficult decision to scrap councillors, or MPs expenses, or close loopholes for tax avoidance by big business?"

Aleema from Handsworth has been working to stop fly-tipping in her community and said she was worried the move to fortnightly bin collections would lead to more rubbish being dumped.

She said: "Already there's a waste issue where waste isn't being cleaned up enough and that's weekly.

"It makes the job feel harder, even though it is impossible."

Simon Gilbert
BBC Political Reporter, Birmingham

A 10% increase in council tax from April equates to roughly a £200 yearly rise for a mid-range Band D property in Birmingham. For some it will be more and others less, depending on the band of their home.

That will seem like a lot of money to many residents in the city, but in terms of how much it will raise to tackle Birmingham’s financial problems it’s comparatively a drop in the ocean.

The increase will raise £21.8m of additional council income this financial year.

When we’re talking about a budget gap of £300m over two years, £1.25bn of debt to the government and equal pay liabilities of £760m – you can see it will barely make a dent on the overall picture.

The news that council tax looks set to rise by 21% over the next two years will be unpopular with a lot of people.

Broadcaster Adil Ray called the plans "scandalous" on social media this morning and asked: "Should the people of Birmingham have to pay for this incompetence?"

He also asked: "How are they supposed to afford this in these times?"

Dan Edge from Erdington set up a petition against large council tax rises in January, which has been signed by more than 5,500 people.

He told BBC Radio WM: "This is the hard working council tax payers of Birmingham yet again picking up the pieces for many many years of financial mismanagement by our council."

He said the proposed increases were "unfair and unjust" and added: "In a city with large areas of deprivation, these are big increases."

The Conservative opposition group on Birmingham City Council has accused the Labour administration of keeping these plans secret.

Councillors will meet to discuss the budget on 5 March and the group leader Robert Alden said: "The Labour group has been discussing their plan to gut the city's services for a year, and yet have left it until the last two weeks to tell Brummies of their plan."

Image source, Conservative Party

Mr Alden also said the authority was in its current position "due to a failure to get serious about the council budget".

Residents were now being hit with "a double whammy of increased council tax and slashed services instead of restructuring the council to protect front-line services," the Conservative group said.

Birmingham City Council is being overseen by government-appointed commissioners, who have been setting out what the authority needs to do.

In a report to the council, external, the team, led by lead commissioner Max Caller, has said it is in "an extremely serious financial position as a result of the past decisions it has taken".

It also said: "There is a narrow path to financial sustainability that will require both discipline and pace."

Image source, Reuters

Their report reveals the council has received £1.255bn in Exceptional Financial Support from the government, but this money must be paid back "through asset sales" and should be seen as a loan.

It also recommends revenue savings of £293m over the next two financial years.