By Caroline GallBirmingham City Council's financial crisis was down to "burying its head in the sand" over equal pay liability, a lawyer who represented claimants said.But on Tuesday it declared itself effectively bankrupt and linked the situation to further equal pay liability of £760m.Stefan Cross KC said most authorities had not handled equal pay issues "as badly".
He said: "Its unlikely that many councils would get themselves into such an extremely difficult position. It's certainly possible - there's nearly a million women who worked for local government, if they all had equal pay cases on an on-going basis, you have a huge problem." On Tuesday, the Labour-run authority - the largest in Europe - issued a Section 114 notice; an admission it could no longer balance its books. It meant new spending would cease on all but essential services - the delivery of which has been promised in recent days by council leader John Cotton.was not only equivalent to the entire annual spending on services but was growing each month. The council apologised at the time for the situation.