Commissioners named to run Birmingham City Council

Michael Gove has nominated commissioners to take over Birmingham City Council

The government has named the eight commissioners who are to run Birmingham City Council for the next five years after it effectively went bankrupt.

They will each be paid £1,100 a day - £1,200 for the lead commissioner - for up to 150 days a year.

It follows the local authority's decision last month to issue a section 114 notice, formally acknowledging its income cannot meet its expenditure.

The commissioners will be led by Max Caller.

He was the lead commissioner into recent intervention at Slough Borough Council and is also a previous adviser to Birmingham, who has since said hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games was a "mistake".

The council's leader John Cotton and chief executive Deborah Cadman welcomed the appointment of Mr Caller, saying his knowledge of the city and previous experience as an advisor would be "an invaluable asset".

He will be joined by John Coughlan, Chris Tambini, Pam Parkes, Jackie Belton and Myron Hrycyk as commissioners, as well as Lord John Hutton and John Biggs as political advisors.

The authority has ceased all non-essential spending amid £760m in equal pay claims

Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove said the intervention package would remain in place until 4 October 2028, unless he considered it appropriate "to amend or revoke them at an earlier date".

"This is a longer duration than in previous interventions [and] reflects the severity and size of the challenge at Birmingham, in comparison to other intervention areas," he added.

Facing an immediate budget shortfall of £87m, the council issued a section 114 notice on 5 September and had already halted all non-essential spending in July.

The notice means the council is only committing to fund statutory services, like refuse collection, schools and adult social care.

It will also have to foot a bill of up to £760m to settle equal pay claims and has already paid out more than £1bn in compensation to underpaid workers.

The introduction of an under-fire IT system has also seen costs spiral from £19m to £100m.

Max Caller has previously criticised the city's hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games

In meetings last week, some councillors suggested its economic revival was likely to depend on a combination of asset sales, job cuts, reduced services and increased council tax.

Mr Cotton said at the time that "all council activity" was being reviewed but pledged to protect "the things that matter most".

Commissioner 'oversight'

The appointments enable commissioners to exercise several functions, including "governance and scrutiny of strategic final decision making" by the local authority.

"The Secretary of State considers most decisions should continue to be made by the authority, but with the oversight of the commissioners: they will uphold proper standards and due process and recommend action," documents on Thursday revealed.

The team will report to the Secretary of State on progress within six months and "thereafter at six monthly intervals or at such other times he might agree with commissioners."

Council leader John Cotton has vowed to work constructively and collaboratively with the appointed commissioners

Under the government intervention, the city council will also be required to undertake several actions, and must prepare and agree an improvement plan within six months.

The plan should detail actions made to secure "continuous improvement and restore public trust across all the authority's functions" specifically within housing, waste, finance, HR, governance and corporate services.

It must also provide commissioners with "reasonable amenities and services and administrative support" as required and must pay "reasonable expenses" and fees.

In response to the appointments, Mr Cotton, and Ms Cadman said the "sole focus" would be to work collaboratively with the commissioners "to meet the immediate challenges" on the journey to "long-term sustained improvement."