Birmingham's £91 million consultancy bill

Bankrupt Birmingham and its 13,000-plus employees are spending at least £91 million on consultants as far as I can make out from scrutinising the figures online.

Among these, KPMG has seven contracts worth £7.7 million, PwC has £4.6 million of contracts, Ernst & Young saw its contract worth £1.3 million as “Strategic Partner Programme Support, Early Intervention and Prevention Programme” soar to £6,311,500. Deloitte gets just £210,440 from two contracts.

PwC gets £2,497,000 as ‘a Delivery Partner for UiPath Robotic Process Automation’. This will supposedly save the council £5.5 million though this doesn’t take into account these fees or the £1.9 million worth of redundancy costs involved. Using robots instead of people is good because, “software robots can do it faster and more consistently than people, without the need to get up and stretch or take a coffee break”.

Grant Thornton has an audit contract worth £1.6 million. Originally it was a mere £252,000.

The city’s rubbish is uncollected because of a strike by binmen. Unite union says the cuts would deprive 150 people of £8,000 a year each. If that’s true, the council would save £1.2 million a year.

Maybe one of the many consultancy firms employed by the city council might suggest other ways of saving money.

For instance, American consultancy Oliver Wyman which gets £1,480,000. The company says, ‘We guide clients through high-stakes decisions and transformative moments so they can adapt, grow, and thrive. Our edge? The power of perspective — driven by deep industry insight, specialized expertise, and a spirit of true collaboration.’

Next: The cost of lawyers.

Bankrupt Brum’s £15 million binge

There was a minor kerfuffle when it became known Joanne Roney, chief executive of the council, was at a property conference in Cannes when the bin strike began. A council spokesman was at pains to point out Ms Roney’s expenses were paid for by her hosts as she had a speaking slot. That they failed to mention was that, in January, the council paid Travelperk, a corporate travel company. £65,545.99. Was this to send some of its planning officers to Cannes for the conference? I asked but answer came there none.

Mind you, the city spent £3.2 million with Travelperk in the first two months of 2025, so I don’t suppose it matters much. It looks as if the council is running ahead of 2024 when, in the whole year, it forked out £15,149,095.38 almost all of it spent by the housing department.

Apparently, this isn’t for global junketing, it’s for accommodating the homeless though not necessarily cost-effectively.

NEXT: A nice little earner – the £91 million-worth of consultants.

Rattus Norvegicus

I recently whiled away a couple of idle hours studying Birmingham City Council’s ‘payments to suppliers over £500’ website and found a fund of fascinating information. Alas, like Johnny Nash, I have found that, after perusing these spreadsheets, there are more questions than answers.

I have asked the council for some of these answers but so far, a week later, none has been forthcoming. I shall wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, though, for a bankrupt council with rats as big as cats because of the bin strike, it is interesting to note Birmingham spent £777,412 allowing 60 members of staff to take time off for trade union business (eight unions altogether, including the strikers of Unite).

It seems 46 of these people spent more than half their working day on union business. This is for the year 2023-24. The previous year, the cost was £667,293. In 2018-19 it was £472,666.

With everyone seeking a solution to the bin strike, surely one way of saving money would be to axe time off for union business. But then how would they plan the next strike?

Water company washes its hands of water leak

 The jokers at Severn Trent sent me a letter from ‘Melissa (no surname)’ who is described as ‘Subject Matter Expert’ assuring me they investigated my report of a leak and found nothing. The letter said they visited my house; the leak is across a road three miles away.

I spoke to Melissa who said it was a templated letter, they had actually been to the site of the leak, carried out some tests and found it was only ‘groundwater’ so it was none of their business.

We discussed this at some length.

I don’t believe it’s only groundwater. They admit they have not found the source of the water and it hasn’t been flooding the road forever, only since last October. Surely that means it’s unlikely to be a newly-sprung spring.

Melissa denied she was, in effect saying that, though water might be a precious resource, Severn Trent don’t care enough to do something about it.

She said I should contact the Environment Agency or the Highways Agency. I demurred, suggesting she might like to contact them instead of me. She said she wasn’t able to do so because she didn’t know enough about the problem – even though she had just read me extracts of her engineer’s report about the water pouring across the road.

According to Melissa, Severn Trent has no responsibility for ‘groundwater’ even though it charges customers for ‘highway drainage’ and ‘wastewater and surface water drainage’. I suppose when the resource gets to the supplier free of charge one way or another, this fatuous monopoly doesn’t care how it comes by its ‘precious resource’. Never again should we take seriously the water companies’ bleating about how important it is to conserve water. They are only too keen to wash their hands of any responsibility.

The Elon Musk of the 18th century

My new novel 'Devil Money' exposes the massive financial fraud at the heart of the foundation of the city of New Orleans. The city was first settled by the French, lured by the promise of riches under a scheme set up by a fugitive murderer who became the most powerful finance minister in Europe.

John Law was given exclusive rights to found settlements in Louisiana which, in the early 1700s, was part of the French empire. At the time Louisiana – named after French King Louis XIV – stretched all the way to Chicago. 

And it was while John Law was selling shares in his Mississippi Company that New Orleans got its name and was first settled – the name refers not just to the city in France but also to the Regent, Phillip of Orleans, who was running the country at the time for the five-year-old King Louis XV.

The price of shares in Law’s company soared, attracting money from all over Europe. By 1720, a share was worth 40 times its original price and the word ‘millionaire’ was first coined to describe people who made their fortunes speculating the stock.

Then the share price collapsed and John Law was forced to flee France in fear of his life, leaving a trail of financial devastation behind him.

Louisiana was described in France as a land of plenty, with gold and silver mines, a wonderful climate a friendly native Americans. John Law even took to displaying gold bars in the shop windows of Paris claiming they were from Louisiana.

In 1718, he sent his servant Billy Barnett to find out the truth. During that trip, New Orleans was founded as the French capital in Louisiana was moved from Biloxi. But when Billy got back to France and reported on the absence of gold, silver, diamonds or treasure of any kind, John Law didn’t want to know.

The shares were booming and he wasn’t going to let a small matter like the true state of affairs get in the way. Sadly, this sort of financial trickery still goes on – it’s just that John Law and his Mississippi scheme were among the first to dupe investors and rip them off.

Law, who founded the Bank of France, was the Bitcoin entrepreneur of his day. He printed paper money to boost his scheme, paid off the Government’s debts and caused run-away inflation. These days, such an economic policy is called quantitative easing. In early 18th century France, they called it ‘le diable d’argent’ – Devil Money.

Law (1671-1729) arrived in Paris in 1715 having fled England to avoid execution for murder and knocked around Europe making his living as a gambler before becoming one of the world’s first economists.

He was befriended by the Duke of Orleans and became the greatest financier in Europe, controller of the entire French economy – from tax-collecting to boat-building – lord of Louisiana and founder of New Orleans. Thanks to soaring share prices, he was probably as rich in his day as Elon Musk is now.

‘Devil Money’ follows his remarkable career through the eyes of stable-boy Billy Barnett.

For Billy, John Law was father-figure, mentor, friend and meal-ticket – until a financial black hole threatened to swallow everyone up.

Theft, lies and Ponzi schemes, insider-dealing, price-fixing, money-printing, fraud, gambling, reckless speculation, tax avoidance, market-rigging – they were all in a day’s work for Billy Barnett.

When it came to treason – John Law started plotting to depose King George I – even Billy had to draw a line. But could he turn paper money back into gold before it was too late?

John Law created the Mississippi bubble which was closely followed by Britain’s South Sea bubble – these financial disasters almost bankrupted two nations and had profound consequences for decades to come.

It’s doubtful whether many of today’s politicians have heard of John Law, let alone learned the lessons of his career. We can but hope they are willing to learn from history.

The financial crash caused by Law’s scheme was so devastating that over the course of the next 70 years it played a part in American independence and the French revolution.

Financial crisis? A warning from history

Chancellor Rachel Reeves  has been sent one of the first copies of a new novel called ‘Devil Money’ about the economic policies that caused one of the first great global financial crises. The book highlights the danger Governments face trying to deal with their mounting debts.

When France’s King Louis XIV died in 1715 there was a black hole in the nation’s finances so big the Government couldn’t even pay interest on its debts. Yet Ministers refused to cut back on their spending. They wanted to maintain the army and expected perks and pay including free clothes, free meals, free accommodation, free tickets etc.

So, they turned to an economist who performed an economic miracle, creating paper money. These days, it’s called quantitative easing. Back in early 18th century France, they called it ‘le diable d’argent’ – Devil Money.

The Bitcoin phenomenon of the age was the brainchild of John Law, a Scotsman who fled England to avoid execution for murder, made his living as a gambler and became one of the world’s first economists.

John Law (1671-1729) became the greatest financier in Europe, controller of the entire French economy – from tax-collecting to boat-building – lord of Louisiana and founder of New Orleans. Thanks to soaring share prices, he became as rich in his day as Elon Musk is now.

‘Devil Money’ follows his remarkable career through the eyes of stable-boy Billy Barnett.

For Billy, John Law was father-figure, mentor, friend and meal-ticket – until another financial black hole threatened to swallow everyone up.

Theft, lies and Ponzi schemes, insider-dealing, price-fixing, money-printing, fraud, gambling, reckless speculation, tax avoidance, market-rigging – they were all in a day’s work for Billy Barnett.

When it came to treason – John Law started plotting to depose King George I – even Billy had to draw a line. But could he turn paper money back into gold before it was too late?

Author Nigel Hastilow says, ‘John Law created the Mississippi bubble in France which was closely followed by Britain’s South Sea bubble – these financial disasters almost bankrupted two nations and had profound consequences for decades to come.

‘It is doubtful whether many of today’s politicians have heard of John Law, let alone learned the lessons of his career, which is why I am sending a copy of ‘Devil Money’ to Ms Reeves in the hope that – as an economist just like John Law – she is willing to learn from history.

‘John Law founded the Bank of France, nationalised the entire French economy, tried to colonise a vast area of what is now the United States, from Chicago to New Orleans, and sold shares in the state-owned company he ran.

‘The word “millionaire” was coined to describe the people he made rich. But it couldn’t last and the crash, when it came, was so devastating it led eventually to the French revolution 70 years later.’

‘Devil Money’ is available on Amazon price: £15 (Hardback) £7.99 (Paperback) £3.00 (Kindle) or at any decent bookshop.

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBLGaC3NzJc

Website: www.devil-money.com

About the Author

Nigel is a journalist by trade. He was editor of The Birmingham Post in the 1990s and a columnist for the Wolverhampton Express & Star. He has worked for the Institute of Directors, the Institute of Chartered Accountants and ran his own publishing company. 

He has written several books including: The Trials of Eldred Pottinger, an historical romance set during the First Afghan War; Close of Play about plans to turn a cricket ground into a housing estate; The Man Who Invented the News, about a journalist surviving in the English Civil War; and Dead Groovy about the lawyer responsible for the worst deal in the history of rock and roll. He lives in Wickhamford, near Evesham, Worcestershire.

Starmer or the farmer? The nightmare before Christmas

If farmers want peaceful protest to succeed quickly, here’s a suggestion: Withdraw all turkey from the market from now until after Christmas.

Obviously, lots of families would be dismayed and distraught. But who would they blame? Farmers or the politicians responsible for their plight? Starmer or the farmer? No contest, it would be Starmer.

There would be outrage over this attack on the nation’s traditional festive fare (except from a few leftie vegans). Imagine the reaction of the Daily Mail or the Sun.

The NFU should levy all its members to recompense turkey farmers for the income they would lose and promise that, if Rachel Thieves withdraws her ruinous death tax, turkey will be back on the menu in time for December 25.

Instead of being the Grinch, Starmer and his little elf Rachel could then portray themselves as the Politicians Who Saved Christmas. 

• I’m not sure if this policy would also work for Brussels sprouts but it may be worth a try.

The black hole and how to deal with it

What do you do when you discover a black hole in the nation’s finances? A hole so enormous you can’t even pay the interest on your existing debts?

Always assuming you want to maintain an army and a Government in the manner to which it has become accustomed (you know, free clothes, free specs, very posh free accommodation, free tickets etc)?

You print money, of course. 

These days, it’s called quantitative easing. Back in early 18th century France, they called it ‘le diable d’argent’ – Devil Money.

And it was all the brainchild of a fugitive Scotsman who fled England to avoid execution for murder, who made his living as a gambler and who had some interesting economic theories.

John Law conjured money out of nowhere.

He became the greatest financier in Europe, controller of the entire French economy – from tax-collecting to introducing paper money – lord of Louisiana, founder of New Orleans.

For Billy Barnett, John Law was a meal-ticket, a mentor, a father-figure and a friend.

Until the black hole threatened to swallow everyone up.

Look out for my new novel, 'Devil Money', coming soon.