Birmingham City Council effectively bankrupt

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Rubbish piles at 'crisis point' amid bin strikes



A Birmingham MP said rubbish piling up on the city's streets amid an ongoing bin strike had reached "crisis point".

In a letter to Birmingham City Council, Preet Gill said constituents had reported a increase in rats and cockroaches, and that she now feared a "public health emergency".

An indefinite all-out strike for bin workers in the city began on Tuesday involving about 350 members of the union Unite.

It follows a row over pay and conditions, particularly the loss of a job role.

The union claims some members could lose £8,000 from their salary, but the council said only a small number of workers stand to lose less than £6,000.

Labour MP Gill wrote: "Some roads in Edgbaston constituency are particularly badly affected where the volume of waste is obstructing passage along the pavements.

"Additionally, residents are reporting that the waste is driving a plague of rats and cockroaches."

She said with the warmer weather approaching, she feared the situation could get worse.

The all-out strikes officially started on Tuesday, however, collectors have been taking action on-and-off since January, following plans to downgrade some staff and reduce their pay.

In a statement, Birmingham City Council previously said the escalation would lead to "greater disruption to residents, despite the fair and reasonable offer that the council made to the union".

The letter said that the Labour-run council has "statutory duties" to protect the public from an environmental and public health perspective.

Gill said it must "take priority in this emergency situation".

She added: "I am formally requesting that you use the relevant statutory powers available to you to ensure that this emergency situation is addressed, ensuring that the streets are not running with vermin and the health of the population protected."

Gill told BBC Midlands Today the council had told her it would work with her to find a solution.

"It's really important that Unite and the council get back round the table because residents of Birmingham deserve so much better," she added.

"Hundreds of constituents are contacting me, sending me pictures, really worried, saying that there are areas where they've seen sights of rats, of cockroaches and of course foxes are coming out ripping those bags up.

"Of course as the weather starts getting warmer there's [an] awful stench and people are really worried about the public health element of this."

The issue was also raised during Prime Minister's Questions, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch attacking Labour, saying rubbish was "piling up" on the city's streets.

Sucks to be a Brummie!

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Rubbish, rats and frayed tempers as bin strike brings chaos to Birmingham



When a council rubbish lorry arrived on a street in south Birmingham on Wednesday morning, the situation descended into chaos.

Crowds of people arrived with wheelie bins crammed full of bin bags, and when staff became overwhelmed and the lorry filled up, frustrated residents began tipping their rubbish on to the street.

Police were called to shut the area down over safety concerns, and warned people they would be fined if they left rubbish behind.

“Tempers were frayed, people were just dumping stuff all over the ground. The bin lorry had to leave because it was getting out of hand,” said one resident. “Then the police had to come. People are getting very frustrated.”

Another resident posted on social media: “I’m traumatised by the behaviours I witnessed there today – it was awful and dangerous.”

These pop-up household waste centres have become increasingly fraught, in the less than two weeks since Birmingham bin workers launched their all-out indefinite strike over pay and restructuring plans, having been on strike sporadically since January. The bin bags have quickly piled up, and the city is already at breaking point.

Preet Gill, the Birmingham Edgbaston MP, said it was becoming a “public health emergency” with residents reporting “a plague of rats and cockroaches”.

Shabeena Khan, standing outside her flat near Sparkhill, contemplated the huge mound of bin bags that had built up. The pile was so big it had almost completely blocked a ground floor window of the block of six flats, and Khan estimated it had been seven weeks since it was last collected.

“I’ve called the council twice and they said somebody should be coming, but every day I’m waiting, crossing my fingers, and nobody has been. The bags are ripped so I’m very scared about rats,” she said. “It’s so disgusting. It’s Ramadan and we’re embarrassed to bring family and friends here. It’s very stressful and depressing.”

She said she was particularly worried about the impact on her son, who has a learning disability and mental health problems, and she was trying to rally the building to chip in to pay for a private contractor to collect the bags.

“How long is this going to go on for?” she asked.

Her neighbour, Maluka Skripkiuc, said the pile had completely blocked any sunlight from coming through her bedroom window, and the smell was so bad she had moved into her son’s room.

“We just have to close the door and completely seal that room off, it really smells,” she said. “It’s horrible, I’m really worried.”

Over at a refuse depot in Tyseley, tensions continued to run high. On Tuesday, about 70 striking bin workers had gathered outside the gates on the picket line, growing increasingly frustrated by the number of police officers on the scene.

The officers were guarding the gates and the bin lorries – staffed by agency workers – which continued to leave the depot, held up by the occasional “go-slow” protest by the strikers who walked slowly in front of the lorries as they began their rounds.

“The way the council has handled this is very, very poor. We know it’s frustrating for the public, we all live in Birmingham too, my bin hasn’t been collected in the past two weeks,” said Steeven Biset, a striking refuse collector.

“We just want to be get out there and do the job that we love. But I feel like if we don’t fight for what we believe is right, then they’ll end up taking more and more, to the point where we’ll be working for less than minimum wage.

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Birmingham declares major incident over bin strike



A major incident has been declared by Birmingham City Council over the ongoing bin strike, which has left 17,000 tonnes of waste on the streets.

Leader John Cotton said it was in response to concerns for public health as the authority struggles to clear the rubbish, which has led to the issue being raised in Parliament.

Its declaration means the authority can increase its street cleaning operation and fly-tipping removal, by bringing in an extra 35 vehicles and crews.

Unite union members have been on all-out strike since 11 March in a row over pay, and over this latest move bosses accused the council of being "hellbent on imposing" its plan for salary cuts and demotions.

Residents in many areas of the city say they have had enough of seeing mountains of rubbish piling up, and are asking questions as to why some areas are apparently seeing bins being emptied while others are not.

As the strike was being raised in the House of Commons, the government said it was "monitoring the situation closely".

Mr Cotton said a lot of the difficulty in clearing the waste in the streets had been caused by staff on picket lines who, he said, were preventing vehicles from getting out of depot.

It was "regrettable" the council had to take this step, Mr Cotton said.

"[But] we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham," he said.

"I respect the right to strike and protest, however actions on the picket line must be lawful and sadly the behaviour of some now means we are seeing a significant impact on residents and the city's environment.

"Unless we declare a major incident and deploy the waste service's contingency plan, then we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets."

Declaring the major incident also allows the council to "work with partners to better manage the risks the city is facing", which could include increased sharing of data.

Further support from neighbouring councils and the government could also be explored, the authority said.

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Rayner blames Tories for Birmingham bin crisis



Angela Rayner has blamed the previous Conservative government for Birmingham council’s bin crisis.

The Deputy Prime Minister suggested that the Tories were responsible for a council bankruptcy several years ago, amid a blame game over piles of rubbish rotting in the streets.

The Labour-run local authority declared a major incident this week after a strike by bin workers over pay. Walkouts have been going on since March 11 and were sparked by the council abolishing the waste recycling and collection officer role.

Birmingham council has been under Labour control since 2012 and declared effective bankruptcy in September 2023 as it attempted to juggle a £760m equal pay bill and an £80m overspend on an IT project.

But when asked by BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine about the crisis, Ms Rayner insisted it was the fault of the previous government, which was in power when the council’s finance chief issued a so-called section 114 notice indicating it would run out of money.

She said: “The bin collection in Birmingham is a wider and bigger issue, because under the previous government, Birmingham council went bust and issued a 114 notice.

“We’ve given Birmingham extra cash to support the difficult circumstances that they’re in and they’re taking action to tackle the long-standing equal pay claims that Birmingham council had.

“And they had over 10 years of austerity, they saw significant sums, billions of pounds, taken out of their budget and were not able to provide the most necessary of services. So we’re taking action to put local government on a better financial stabilisation after the 14 years of disaster that we’ve had.”

Ms Rayner blamed Tory cuts despite experts at the University of Sheffield concluding last year that the council’s effective bankruptcy was caused mainly by the botched adoption of a new IT system.

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Council behind Birmingham bin chaos ‘wasted’ £53m on consultants



The council at the centre of Birmingham’s bin strike chaos “wasted” more than £53 million on consultants in four years, analysis shows.

Birmingham city council is under fire after disclosing that it spent £53.6 million on external consultants between 2020-21 and 2023-24.

It comes as the bin strike in England’s second city enters its seventh full week with no sign of resolution as rubbish continues to pile up in the streets.

Hundreds of bin workers with the Unite trade union walked out in a dispute with the council over its decision to abolish the waste recycling and collection officer role.

Birmingham council has been under Labour control since 2012 and declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023 as it attempted to juggle an equal pay bill and overspend on an IT project.

According to Conservative analysis of data obtained under freedom of information laws, the council spent £17.5 million on external consultants in 2020-21.

This increased to £17.6 million in 2021-22, before falling slightly to £10.4 million in 2022-23 and decreasing again to £8 million in 2023-24.

Despite declaring effective bankruptcy in the same time frame, more than £350,000 was spent on external consultants relating to staffing in 2023-24.

The analysis by the Conservatives also shows that Labour-led Camden council, which covers Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency, spent £32 million on external consultants since 2021.

Its spending peaked in 2022-23 when almost £10.8 million was spent, although this could yet be topped by 2024-25 as it has spent £9.3 million between April 2024 and February 2025.

Last year, the council blamed the previous Tory government for “severe funding cuts” and confirmed it would have to identify £10 million in savings in the next three years.

Haringey council, which is also run by Labour, spent more than £54 million on external consultants since 2021, including almost £21 million in the last full financial year of 2023-24.

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike



Labour's largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.

Members of the trade union, one of the UK's largest, also "overwhelmingly" voted to "re-examine its relationship" with Labour over the issue.

They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council's leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for "bringing the union into disrepute".

There was confusion over Ms Rayner's membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.

But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament's latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.

The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.

Unite is one of the Labour Party's largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 - the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.

The union condemned Birmingham's Labour council and the government for "attacking the bin workers".

Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.

Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for "effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000", the union added.

General secretary Sharon Graham said: "Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.

"Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.

"The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.

"People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers."

A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.