The government has announced that it is minded to extend intervention at Slough Borough Council, whilst commissioners at Birmingham City Council have outlined that the authority needs “root and branch reform”.
Birmingham and Slough are currently under government intervention. Both have issued section 114 notices over the past three years and required exceptional financial support in 2024/25.
In their first report on Birmingham City Council, which was made public on 22 October but written in April, commissioners stated that authority’s financial challenge “cannot be overstated”, with it having to manage budget savings of nearly £300m, a £750m asset disposal programme and permanently resolve its equal pay liabilities.
Intervention at Birmingham is currently being led by Max Caller. In the report, commissioners outlined that the main cause of the council’s issues is “poor governance”, with this being a “risk” until “the organisation embraces root and branch reform of its culture and governance”.
Alongside this, the report set out that Birmingham’s services are “significantly below the standard” and “on numerous fronts” the authority has failed to properly manage its workforce. It also explained that Birmingham currently “lacks the capacity and capability” to take necessary steps to address its problems without external support.
Overall, the commissioners stated that Birmingham must rebuild its “corporate core, consolidate key services and transform its target operation model”. The key to doing this is “fixing the mess created by BCC’s disastrous attempt to implement Oracle [IT system]”.
‘Severity of challenges’
Commenting on the commissioners’ report, local government minister Jim McMahon stated that it sets out the “scale and severity” of challenges at Birmingham, noting that “local councils must be fit, legal and decent”.
“This government is committed to achieving that, which will require resetting the relationship between local and central government and establishing partnerships built on mutual respect, genuine collaboration and meaningful engagement,” he said.
In response to the report, John Cotton, leader of Birmingham, welcomed the commissioners’ comments, stating: “We face another very difficult budget, and it remains clear that the pace of change must further increase, as further savings are identified, and we transform services.
“Our new managing director Joanne Roney is focussed on that challenge and there will be no let up as we work together to get the council back on track.”
Slough intervention extended
On the same day as publishing Birmingham commissioners’ first report, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that it is “minded-to” issue new directions at Slough Borough Council to extend the intervention until 30 November 2026.
In a letter to the commissioners at Slough, McMahon wrote: “It is clear the council is on a journey towards meeting its Best Value Duty, and while there has been positive progress since the intervention began, there is still significant work to be done.”
As part of the next stage of the council’s improvement, the minister is minded-to appoint a managing director commissioner, who will have the same roles and responsibilities as all of Slough’s commissioners.
This extends intervention at Slough by two years, which was recommended by commissioners in their fifth report, made public on 22 November but submitted to the government in April.
The commissioners’ fifth report outlined that the authority has made progress in areas including political leadership, children’s social care, SEND services as well as procurement and contract management.
However, the report stated that Slough is “failing to demonstrate best value” and must move towards and “sustain a high-performance culture”. To do this, the report explained, that Slough must demonstrate it can “live within its means” and “further drive down costs through a combination of organisational efficiency and productivity improvements and deliver the asset disposal strategy”.
Gavin Jones, lead commissioner at Slough, said: “The continuation of the intervention is necessary at this time to tackle the vast challenges involved in the council’s improvement. It has become clear that much more work is needed to provide stability and sustainability for the council’s operations and finances.”
In response to the further intervention, Dexter Smith, leader of the council, said: “The situation we are dealing with has been years in the making and so it will take years to resolve the debt, to get the council living within its means, and to deliver best value services. Now we have the extra time and help from government to do that.”
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