Birmingham City Council will be forced into conducting the biggest ever sell off of its huge property and land portfolio in order to meet huge equal pay compensation bill.
The cost of settling legal claims bought by no-win no-fee solicitors on behalf of thousands of women who were underpaid when working for the local authority already stands at close to £900 million.
No one can be certain about the size of the final bill, although a sum in excess of £1 billion looks a racing certainty and the figure could be higher if future court judgments go against the council.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has approved borrowing of £528 million to help the council meet the bill – a decision which in itself pushes up city debt to a level where a quarter of the revenue budget will soon be used solely for repaying loans rather than running services.
That would be bad enough at a time when swingeing Government grant cuts leave the council facing a £600 million funding gap. But as accountants Grant Thornton noted in an audit report,
