BIRMINGHAM Council’s “miscalculation” on equal pay liability has exposed “mismanagement and incompetence,” the Unite union charges.

The council announced this week that it has settled its historic equal pay claim, with up to 6,000 workers in “female majority” departments and services proving they had been underpaid for years compared to colleagues in male-dominated services.

Local reports suggest the settlement cost £250 million – significantly lower than the predicted £760m liability which triggered the council’s de facto bankruptcy in September 2023. 

Unite said that since then the council has imposed £300m of cuts, leaving workers and residents “paying the price.”

The union said the council has claimed that cutting refuse workers’ pay was necessary for “equal pay reasons” and it could not afford to compensate staff.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a disgraceful tale of the council’s incompetence coupled with bad legal advice. 

“The ongoing bin strike is a direct result of the council’s mismanagement of its finances. 

“Unite has repeatedly provided the council with expert legal advice to demonstrate it was making the wrong calculations on equal pay, but the council was too arrogant to even consider it.

“The council’s legal advice yet again is not worth the paper it is written on.”

Ms Graham said the council must “immediately admit it was wrong and honour the deal scoped out at Acas to resolve the bin dispute.”

She said council leader Joanne Roney, government commissioners and the council’s legal team “must be held to account for this mess.”

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “The full terms of the settlement are confidential.

“But the cost of the settlement falls within the limit of the exceptional financial support package agreed with the previous government in January 2024.”