Value for money and accountability: a report on the Birmingham City Council section 114 bankruptcy

This report analyses the financial situation at Birmingham City Council and the factors that led to the issuance of the section 114 notice in September 2023. We find that the financial problems were initially attributed to a prematurely disclosed and potentially overstated equal pay liability. This attribution deflected public attention from i) ongoing service level pressures that resulted from austerity budgets and increased demands after the Covid pandemic, and ii) the disastrous implementation of a new ‘Oracle Cloud Fusion’ IT system (‘Oracle’, hereafter). As a result of this attribution, the government initiated a process that would lead to deep cuts and asset sales that raise serious concerns about best value and financial sustainability.