UK’s Second City Declares Bankruptcy After Equal Pay Claim

  • Europe’s largest local authority issues notice to creditors
  • Council admits it faces ‘unprecedented financial challenges’
The Bullring shopping center in central Birmingham.Photographer: Darren Staples/Bloomberg
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Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe, effectively declared bankruptcy after being hit by a crippling bill from an equal pay claim.

The Labour-run administration representing the UK’s second-largest city issued a so-called 114 notice, putting a stop to all but essential spending and becoming the latest in a string of councils to plunge into financial distress.