Eight hundred jobs are being axed at Birmingham City Council to help plug a £2.2 billion hole in its finances.

Council leader Mike Whitby announced the posts are to go after it was revealed the council’s debt had doubled from £1.1bn in the last five years. It comes after unions predicted cuts would be necessary to meet next year’s budget.

Birmingham’s decision follows job threats at other councils in the Black Country.

In Wolverhampton, 173 job losses have been announced while Walsall Council leader Mike Bird has warned of possible pay freezes to stave off redundancies.

Birmingham’s 800 job losses come on top of plans to get rid of 3,500 positions over the next 10 years as part of the council’s Business Transformation Programme. It currently employs 60,000 staff.

Vacancies

Councillor Whitby claims the jobs will go through “natural wastage” with the council not taking on more staff when positions become vacant. Chief executive Stephen Hughes pledged that “no-one will be sacked”.

Councillor Whitby said: “There’s no doubt that there’s going to be a constraint on the public purse.

“We will be looking at ways where we are not going to be filling job vacancies and we will certainly be looking at natural wastage.

“We will be looking at the use of agency staff so we can control the number of people we employ.”

He said it was no surprise the council’s debt was high because it was the largest local authority in the UK.

Councillor Whitby said major projects including the new multi-million pound library plans and proposals for a new swimming pool would go ahead.

By Sally Walmsley