Council staff from the Erdington Advice Service will have to work from home from next Monday (2 Decembers 2024) due to their office closing due to budget cuts.
The Council is planning to sell the building at 67 Sutton New Road but it has not yet been marketed. The closure is justified by saving on the running costs they claim amount to £517,246, however the largest portion of this relates to Non Domestic Rates of £304,640, which ironically is paid to the Council itself.
David Hughes UNISON Communications Officer pointed out “until the building is sold the Council would only get 3 months relief (£76,160) from when the building is empty, but this is really just a paper transfer as the Council would lose the income. Based on our experience of the sale of other major buildings like Woodcock Street it is going to take a lot longer than 3 months to find a buyer and complete the sale. UNISON would also dispute some of the figures given for
David Hughes “The closure of this office is going to have a major impact on citizens in the north of the city. The only remaining open door office is in Northfield and this closure comes on top of the recent closure of the Homeless Centre in Newtown.”
“The Council is rapidly closing its doors to the citizens of Birmingham who need help and they are being expected to pay extra for a much reduced service.”
“The plan was to move the service to the Erdington Library but this was shelved at the last moment because the Council couldn’t afford to make the alterations and repairs needed to a building that is in a dilapidated state”.
“The only way the public will know the office is shut will be when they turn up and see a closed notice on the door, this is not an acceptable way to treat citizens.”
UNISON has written to the Leader of the Council John Cotton urging him to halt the closure of the Erdington Advice Centre until an alternative suitable location is found.
In the financial year to date the Erdington Advice Centre completed over 5,000 interviews (around 160 a week) and over £2m of estimated income gains for citizens (£400 per citizen on average.) Of course not all achievements can be measured in terms of income gains because, for example, homeless and housing related advice rarely offer an income opportunity but do potentially save the council costs in the statutory part of the housing service so £400 per person is an excellent outcome but doesn’t tell the full story. In addition the interviews play a major role in reducing Council rent arrears and Council Tax arrears.
David Hughes Branch Communications Officer