This week Birmingham City Council revealed that £300 million of cuts will be made to Council services in order to balance its 2024/2025 budget.  Commenting on the news BVSC’s CEO Brian Carr said “The proposed budget reductions were a sobering read but BVSC is continuing to facilitate conversations between the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector and the Council to explore ways to navigate the challenges and minimise the impacts on our residents and community groups.”

A letter issued to the VCFSE sector jointly by the Council’s Leader and Chief Executive on 6 February sets out a ‘Statement of Intent’ to take a ‘Birmingham Together’ approach, maintaining an ‘open, honest and regular dialogue’ about the challenges faced by the sector.  You can read this on our Section 114 web page.

BVSC is facilitating a Budget Briefing event for the VCFSE which will take place on Thursday 11 April from 10:30 – 12:30. This online event will be attended by representatives of Birmingham City Council, including Leader, John Cotton.  Individuals from the sector are invited to ask questions, but as numbers of attendees are expected to be extremely high, they will need to be submitted in advance to allow us to group them into categories and identify any recurring themes.

The budget proposals will be discussed at a full council meeting next week, and voted on on 5 March. BVSC will continue to provide updates as and when more news becomes available.