Crosswords0 min ago
Birmingham Goes Bankrupt!
26 Answers
Are we surprised?
Are Brummies really spendthrifts or practising being scroge in not paying their rates and other taxes?
Corruption perhaps?
send them white flags and 1st aid packs - and they could always use the council offices to house the boat people
Are Brummies really spendthrifts or practising being scroge in not paying their rates and other taxes?
Corruption perhaps?
send them white flags and 1st aid packs - and they could always use the council offices to house the boat people
Answers
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due mainly (I gather) as fallout from this -
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sorry dead link - try this
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Mushroom25's link deals with the Supreme Court's decision as to whether the women wanting to bring an equal pay claim (which would normally have been time-barred) still had the right to do so. It doesn't though cover the actual issue at the heart of the problem, which is one of 'equivalent work'.
As an analogy, let's say that a supermarket chain pays its checkout operators (both male and female) £12 per hour but pays its warehouse staff (both male and female) £14 per hour. On the face of it, they're within the law as any checkout operator gets the same pay as their colleague on the next till (irrespective of their genders) and similarly all warehouse staff receive the same pay, irrespective of their genders.
However their checkout operators are mainly female, whereas their warehouse staff are nearly all male. If the women on the checkouts can convince a court that their work is actually equivalent to working in the warehouse, they'll have a valid claim for discrimination on the grounds of gender, thus forcing the supermarket to pay them the higher rate of pay (and to give the checkout operators back pay, to make up the difference, as well)
So it was in Birmingham, where staff such as teaching assistants (who're prominently female) managed to convince a court that there were other jobs within the council, with predominantly male staff, which were 'equivalent' to their own but where those male staff were being paid at a higher rate. The court therefore ruled that Birmingham City Council would have to fork out a massive amount of back pay to the women workers, which they simply hadn't got.
Such 'equivalence' claims are becoming far more common, with many employers (both in the public and private sectors), who thought that they'd been were fully with equal pay legislation, suddenly finding out that they'd not and getting left with massive debts as a result.
As an analogy, let's say that a supermarket chain pays its checkout operators (both male and female) £12 per hour but pays its warehouse staff (both male and female) £14 per hour. On the face of it, they're within the law as any checkout operator gets the same pay as their colleague on the next till (irrespective of their genders) and similarly all warehouse staff receive the same pay, irrespective of their genders.
However their checkout operators are mainly female, whereas their warehouse staff are nearly all male. If the women on the checkouts can convince a court that their work is actually equivalent to working in the warehouse, they'll have a valid claim for discrimination on the grounds of gender, thus forcing the supermarket to pay them the higher rate of pay (and to give the checkout operators back pay, to make up the difference, as well)
So it was in Birmingham, where staff such as teaching assistants (who're prominently female) managed to convince a court that there were other jobs within the council, with predominantly male staff, which were 'equivalent' to their own but where those male staff were being paid at a higher rate. The court therefore ruled that Birmingham City Council would have to fork out a massive amount of back pay to the women workers, which they simply hadn't got.
Such 'equivalence' claims are becoming far more common, with many employers (both in the public and private sectors), who thought that they'd been were fully with equal pay legislation, suddenly finding out that they'd not and getting left with massive debts as a result.
Birmingham Council is not alone, it seems:
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Such short memories.
Woking Council went bust in June.
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Woking Council went bust in June.
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Birmingham was known as the workshop of the World. Exported around the globe products ranging from pen nibs, paper clips, nails and tacks, screws and washers, to anchors and anchor chains, locomotive wheels and boilers. Latterly the main centre of automobile manufacturer in Britain(until the unions ran it) with a well deserved municipal pride and sense of belonging. It is now a shadow of its former iteration and the people who live there now will never restore its former glory. It is a lesson that we should be learning Nationwide. London is next. Ask yourselves(If You Care) what is the common denominator in this "puzzle"?
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effective-bankruptcy-for-third-time-in-two-years
The cost of the Bristol Beacon revamp has spiralled yet again by another £25million and now stands at an eye-watering £132millionalmost three times the original amount. City council taxpayers will have to sink even more cash into the money-pit refurbishment of the Victorian concert hall at a time when the authority has announced widespread cuts to services including social care, libraries, parks and the council tax reduction scheme for the poorest families.
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Labour like to waste money.
effective-bankruptcy-for-third-time-in-two-years
The cost of the Bristol Beacon revamp has spiralled yet again by another £25million and now stands at an eye-watering £132millionalmost three times the original amount. City council taxpayers will have to sink even more cash into the money-pit refurbishment of the Victorian concert hall at a time when the authority has announced widespread cuts to services including social care, libraries, parks and the council tax reduction scheme for the poorest families.
https:/
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Labour like to waste money.
I grew up with 'Cut your coat according to your cloth'. Why have people/councils forgotten this? Even spreading Christmas etc. via a catalogue was rather frowned upon.
I still pay everything from my current account.... in fact I had a problem when I returned from France because I didn't have a credit reference. I had to get a credit card! I used it for holidays, to keep it happy, because it's such a faff ringing up to transfer funds to pay it off. Expecting yet another 'You have not used your card and we will withdraw this facility' warning very soon - so I'll have to use it to buy something.
All that is by-the-by. Councils need to learn to budget again.
I still pay everything from my current account.... in fact I had a problem when I returned from France because I didn't have a credit reference. I had to get a credit card! I used it for holidays, to keep it happy, because it's such a faff ringing up to transfer funds to pay it off. Expecting yet another 'You have not used your card and we will withdraw this facility' warning very soon - so I'll have to use it to buy something.
All that is by-the-by. Councils need to learn to budget again.
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