Latest news with #Section114
New Straits Times
5 days ago
- New Straits Times
RTD issues summonses over reckless bus driving caught on video
KUALA LUMPUR: The Road Transport Department (RTD) has taken enforcement action against two bus operators after viral videos showed their drivers behaving dangerously on Malaysian roads. In a statement, RTD said it received two separate complaints involving public service vehicles and launched investigations that led to summonses and official action under the Road Transport Act 1987. In the first case, a driver for StarMart Express Sdn Bhd was caught driving on the emergency lane and overtaking dangerously along the North-South Expressway near the Kulai R&R northbound. The driver was issued a notice for two offences under the Road Traffic Rules 1956. In the second incident, involving Sanwa Tours (M) Sdn Bhd, the RTD issued a notice under Section 114 for both the driver and vehicle owner after a bus was seen driving recklessly in the Mersing area. "This department will not compromise with any vehicle (operator) that violates the law and will take firm action against those involved," the department said. Operators were also urged to monitor their drivers' behaviour to ensure full compliance with traffic regulations.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
London town halls on edge of bankruptcy after overspending £330m on homelessness services
London's councils overspent on their homelessness budgets by at least £330m last year, as town halls warn that the escalating crisis is pushing them closer to bankruptcy. The reported overspend was paid out by boroughs in the 2024/25 financial year, and represented a 60 per cent increase compared with what they originally budgeted for. The figures - produced in a new analysis by the capital's local government association, London Councils - comes as borough leaders emphasise there is 'a growing mismatch' between their temporary accommodation costs and the subsidy they receive for this from the Government. In 2023/24, the gap was around £96m, but London Councils estimates that the shortfall for 2024/25 reached £140m - an increase of 45 per cent. Responding to the data, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has insisted that ministers are working to tackle 'the root causes of homelessness', including by boosting affordable house-building. But local leaders fear that if current trends continue, more boroughs will need emergency support and may even be at risk of issuing Section 114 notices - which effectively serve as declarations of bankruptcy. In England, councils have a legal duty to provide temporary accommodation to homeless households who qualify for support under housing law. Local leaders argue that this makes it essentially impossible for councils to place strict limits on their homelessness expenditure. Last year, London boroughs allocated almost £600m to their homelessness budgets for 2024/25. This was based on previous years' spending and anticipated increases in homelessness pressures. According to London Councils however, 'pressures shot up even faster than expected' and the number of homeless Londoners requiring temporary accommodation has reached the highest level ever recorded - 183,000, or one in 50 residents of the capital. It means boroughs are now collectively spending £4m a day on temporary accommodation. 'The worsening homelessness emergency is devastating the lives of too many Londoners and represents the single biggest risk to boroughs' finances,' said Grace Williams, London Councils' executive member for housing. 'Homelessness spending is fundamentally driven by factors outside our control. Boroughs have a legal duty to provide homelessness support - and we're seeing homelessness numbers skyrocket while accommodation costs spiral.' Ms Williams, who also serves as Labour leader of Waltham Forest Council, added: 'If things carry on as they are, we will see more boroughs' become effectively bankrupt. This brings massive uncertainty to the future of our communities' local services, and could ultimately mean more costs to the Government when emergency interventions are required. 'London boroughs are doing everything we can to turn this situation around, but we need urgent action from ministers. Only national government has the powers and resources required to bolster councils' budgets and reduce homelessness pressures - particularly through investing far more in affordable housing.' Responding, an MHCLG spokesman said: 'We inherited a serious housing crisis which is why we are taking urgent and decisive action to end homelessness, fix the foundations of local government and drive forward our Plan for Change. 'This government is providing £1bn for crucial homelessness services and tackling the root causes of homelessness by building 1.5m new homes, boosting social and affordable housing and abolishing section 21 no fault evictions.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bankrupt councils dish out £600k in ‘golden hellos'
Two cash-strapped councils have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on 'golden hellos' for new staff despite declaring bankruptcy, The Telegraph can reveal. Birmingham City Council handed individual payments of £1,000 to workers for agreeing to sign on between 2022 and last year, while Croydon Council paid them as much as £5,000 in the same period. The sign-on bonuses were paid despite declining public services with Birmingham forced to dim street lights and cut bin collections as council tax soared 10pc last year alone. Croydon, which declared bankruptcy in 2023, issued another £35m warning last year. The cash incentives were given to dozens of new recruits to frontline local authority services, according to Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph. Croydon spent £439,000 on starting bonuses between 2022 and 2024. It gave a 'welcome payment' of £5,000 to 74 staff during that time, while 15 received payments of £4,000 and three were paid £3,000. In the same period, Croydon declared effective bankruptcy three times between 2020 and 2022, while Birmingham went bankrupt in 2023. The starting bonuses at Croydon were approved amid a financial crisis at the town hall, which in November 2022 issued its third Section 114 notice, a legal mechanism that declares a local authority cannot balance its budget. It raised council tax by 15pc in 2023, which pushed up bills for the average household in Croydon by £235 a year to over £2,000. Croydon council taxpayers will see bills rise by 4.8pc between 2025 to 2026, with an average Band D property bill rising to around £2,480, a further increase of £113. Croydon is no longer under a Section 114 notice. Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Residents in bankrupt Birmingham and Croydon will be furious that their councils have squandered hundreds of thousands on golden hellos. 'Taxpayers deserve answers, not more reckless handouts from cash-strapped town halls.' The Conservative mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, blamed 'toxic historic mismanagement' at the time. The council received a £136m bailout from the taxpayer in February after projecting an overspend of £98m this financial year. Birmingham spent a total of £152,000 on its 'golden hello' scheme for new recruits. The initiative was introduced in 2022 to boost hiring in adults' and children's social care services, and by 2024 it had paid 152 new hires £1,000 each. The council defended the scheme as necessary to tackle difficulties hiring new social care staff which it described as 'one of the most acute national workforce challenges'. The city issued its Section 114 notice in 2023 and increased council tax by 10pc last year, with a further 8.5pc increase approved this year, taking the average Band D council tax to £2,236 a year. A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: 'National bodies such as the Local Government Authority and British Association of Social Workers have repeatedly highlighted recruitment into adults' and children's social care roles as one of the most acute national workforce challenges, particularly within frontline health and social care roles. 'The introduction of a £1,000 golden hello for recruits into hard-to-fill posts such as qualified social workers and occupational therapists represents a modest, proportionate and evidence-based incentive aligned with sector-wide practices. We do not pay golden hellos for officers in senior leadership roles.' Croydon Council was contacted for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
11-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Bankrupt councils dish out £600k in ‘golden hellos'
Two cash-strapped councils have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on 'golden hellos' for new staff despite declaring bankruptcy, The Telegraph can reveal. Birmingham City Council handed individual payments of £1,000 to workers for agreeing to sign on between 2022 and last year, while Croydon Council paid them as much as £5,000 in the same period. The sign-on bonuses were paid despite declining public services with Birmingham forced to dim street lights and cut bin collections as council tax soared 10pc last year alone. Croydon, which declared bankruptcy in 2023, issued another £35m warning last year. The cash incentives were given to dozens of new recruits to frontline local authority services, according to Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph. Croydon spent £439,000 on starting bonuses between 2022 and 2024. It gave a 'welcome payment' of £5,000 to 74 staff during that time, while 15 received payments of £4,000 and three were paid £3,000. In the same period, Croydon declared effective bankruptcy three times between 2020 and 2022, while Birmingham went bankrupt in 2023. The starting bonuses at Croydon were approved amid a financial crisis at the town hall, which in November 2022 issued its third Section 114 notice, a legal mechanism that declares a local authority cannot balance its budget. It raised council tax by 15pc in 2023, which pushed up bills for the average household in Croydon by £235 a year to over £2,000. Croydon council taxpayers will see bills rise by 4.8pc between 2025 to 2026, with an average Band D property bill rising to around £2,480, a further increase of £113. Croydon is no longer under a Section 114 notice. Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Residents in bankrupt Birmingham and Croydon will be furious that their councils have squandered hundreds of thousands on golden hellos. 'Taxpayers deserve answers, not more reckless handouts from cash-strapped town halls.' The Conservative mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, blamed 'toxic historic mismanagement' at the time. The council received a £136m bailout from the taxpayer in February after projecting an overspend of £98m this financial year. Birmingham spent a total of £152,000 on its 'golden hello' scheme for new recruits. The initiative was introduced in 2022 to boost hiring in adults' and children's social care services, and by 2024 it had paid 152 new hires £1,000 each. The council defended the scheme as necessary to tackle difficulties hiring new social care staff which it described as 'one of the most acute national workforce challenges'. The city issued its Section 114 notice in 2023 and increased council tax by 10pc last year, with a further 8.5pc increase approved this year, taking the average Band D council tax to £2,236 a year. A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: 'National bodies such as the Local Government Authority and British Association of Social Workers have repeatedly highlighted recruitment into adults' and children's social care roles as one of the most acute national workforce challenges, particularly within frontline health and social care roles. 'The introduction of a £1,000 golden hello for recruits into hard-to-fill posts such as qualified social workers and occupational therapists represents a modest, proportionate and evidence-based incentive aligned with sector-wide practices. We do not pay golden hellos for officers in senior leadership roles.' Croydon Council was contacted for comment.
Telegraph
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Birmingham is quickly transforming into a third world city
Yesterday's scenes from Birmingham, where a mobile bin collection was called off after it was swarmed by residents desperate to dispose of their rubbish, have reinforced the image of it fast becoming a failed city. Some will say that none of this is new to Britain – that sight of bin bags piling up on rat-infested streets was commonplace in cities like Birmingham during the so-called 'winter of discontent' in the late 1970s. It is a fair point to make – industrial action by binmen is bound to have this kind of impact, especially in densely-populated areas of inner-city England. But this overlooks the spectacular mismanagement of Britain's second-largest city in recent times, which is largely down to the culturally dysfunctional nature of its key public institutions – most of all, Birmingham City Council, which has developed a reputation for being one of the most incompetent local authorities in the land. Back in September 2023, Labour-controlled Birmingham City Council issued a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring itself bankrupt. The factors behind this declaration included a huge equal pay liability and disastrous IT system upgrade – leading to significant cuts to services and considerable council tax increases. The residents of Birmingham are paying more for less benefits, being expected to foot the bill for their own council's rank ineptitude. A damning report published a couple of months ago by auditors Grant Thornton highlighted an organisational culture at Birmingham City Council of 'not reporting or being receptive to bad news, an over-emphasis on protecting personal reputations and a lack of challenge and rigour in governance'. As well as raising the 'serious mismanagement in the waste and street-scene services' (which preceded the refuse workers' strikes), auditors also flagged serious failings in services for families and children with special educational needs and disabilities. Perhaps it is no surprise that the Social Mobility Commission's recent 'State of the Nation' report placed Birmingham in the 'unfavourable' category for conditions of childhood. Officials and staff at the council have also faced allegations of criminal corruption, excessive hospitality, and failing to declare interests in connection to multi-million-pound housing repairs contracts. Birmingham does not only suffer from woeful governance at the hands of the local council – in the shape of West Midlands Police, the city falls under a territorial force which is completely out of its depth when it comes to so-called 'community relations'. Back in 2015, it was revealed that senior officers at West Midlands Police suppressed a report on Birmingham's grooming gangs, for fear that it would inflame racial tensions ahead of the 2010 general election. A total of seventy-five suspects were identified, most having a history of sexual violence and predominantly being of Pakistani heritage. West Midlands Police's diabolical approach to 'diversity management' was exposed yet again during last summer's violent disorder. Superintendent Emlyn Richards revealed that his force consulted Muslim 'community and business leaders' after rumours that a far-right English Defence League march was planned for the Muslim-concentrated Birmingham areas of Alum Rock and Bordesley Green. This colonial-style 'British Raj' approach to keeping the peace by outsourcing law-and-order responsibilities to unaccountable 'community figures' clearly didn't pay off, with The Clumsy Swan pub being stormed by a violent mob who wrongly believed that EDL members were at the establishment. There was a time when Birmingham was considered one of the world's greatest cities. Playing a critical role in the Industrial Revolution, Birmingham was described in the summer of 1890 by Harper's Magazine as the 'best-governed city in the world'. It evolved from being a small seventh-century Anglo-Saxon hamlet to a shining beacon of gold-standard governance and groundbreaking commercial innovation. Atrocious forms of modern-day governance – at both the national and local level – have contributed towards the 'thirdworldification' of Birmingham. It is now a city defined by its malfunctioning public institutions, dire social infrastructure, unstable community relations, and loss of civic industrial pride. Birmingham's tragic decline is surely one of the most depressing tales of post-WWII Britain.
