Birmingham City Council announced on September 5 that it had filed for bankruptcy.
From this day on, the city stops all payments and expenses, with the exception of social security obligations. The main reason for the bankruptcy was the legal costs that Birmingham incurred during the consideration of the claim of trade unions, who accused the authorities of the fact that women, who were engaged in predominantly female professions, were still paid less than men in the city. Among such professions are mentioned, for example, nurses and teaching assistants.
The city paid compensation for ten years. However, bills are growing by 5-14 million pounds a month, and the total amount of unpaid compensation accumulated over the years is estimated by the city authorities at 650-760 million pounds. The city simply doesn’t have such funds, authorities say, and the budget deficit for this fiscal year is already estimated at 8 million pounds.
Birmingham is the second most populated city in England (more than 1 million people), its city council is the largest local authority in all of Europe.
