Birmingham City Council Chief Executive Deborah Cadman is standing down - here’s why

Birmingham City Council has today (Wednesday, March 13) announced that Deborah Cadman OBE will stand down as Chief Executive on March 22, 2024 after almost three years in charge.

The announcement comes a week after the council’s ‘worst ever budget’ was approved, including a 21% increase in council tax bills and huge multi million cuts to services. Professor Graeme Betts CBE, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Adult Social Care, will act up into the role of Chief Executive as plans are developed to secure a permanent replacement.

Deborah Cadman OBE said: “When I was appointed as Chief Executive in March 2021, I was given a very clear brief of delivering the Commonwealth Games and I am proud that these were an outstanding success, with Birmingham 2022 considered as one of the best ever. 

“It was always my intention to leave the council once the budget (2024/25) was agreed, and we had a clear route to recovery and improvement. Having secured that approval and having led on the development of the council’s new Improvement and Recovery Plan, I feel that now is the right time to hand over the baton to a new Chief Executive.

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"I am of course incredibly disappointed with the council’s current financial position and the challenges that have arisen due to historic Equal Pay issues and the failed implementation of Oracle. I joined the Council after a period of significant volatility that saw the organisation have four Chief Executives in only two years.

"I have endeavoured to bring stability to the organisation including making permanent appointments to senior roles such as the Directors of Children’s Services and Housing, which has led to improvements in performance. 

“I am pleased that Birmingham is one of the few places that has received ‘Good’ ratings in both Adults and Children’s Social Care. I have also worked hard to bring significant new investment into the City, and I am confident that the groundbreaking ‘Our Future City Plan’ will create the high-quality jobs and homes that Birmingham desperately needs.

"It has been the honour of my life to be the Chief Executive of the City in which I was born and raised. I wish my colleagues every success in transforming the council into one that this great city deserves.”

Leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor John Cotton said: “Deborah has led the council as Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service over the course of the last three years. Her commitment and contribution have been acknowledged by staff, partners and government. These have been incredibly difficult times and no one can doubt Deborah’s commitment to the council, the city and the region.”

Lead Commissioner Max Caller CBE said: “It is very challenging working with Commissioners under a Statutory Intervention, and Deborah has responded effectively over the last six months. I wish Deborah well for the future as she continues her long and distinguished career in public service.”

Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives said: “We thank Deborah Cadman for her service in her time in Birmingham. It is vital now that a cross-party selection process takes place to try and find the best person possible to take over as a new Chief Executive to help try to change the Council for the better for residents.” 

Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley), Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives said: “Birmingham has had a revolving door of statutory officers, with more Chief Execs under Labour since 2012 than there have been Dalai Lamas since 1617, the same year that Pocahontas met King James I.

"Each of the external appointments came to Birmingham with high reputations in Local Government circles, but none have been able to turn around the fortunes of the ultimate crisis council. What this tells me, is that the problem is not with officers but with the political leadership that has overseen a culture variously described as dysfunctional, intimidating, defensive, and mistrustful. It is decisions taken by Birmingham Labour, along with decisions they have refused to take, that have led us to this point. They cannot keep hiding behind officers and deflecting blame.”

Cllr Alden continued: “At a time of unprecedented crisis brought about by the Labour Cabinet, Birmingham now has no Chief Executive, an interim Chief Finance Officer and an interim Monitoring Officer. Report after report has talked about the impact of the high turnover rate of senior officers and the resulting loss of corporate memory, but Birmingham Labour have turned this City Council from a place once seen as the pinnacle of a local government career to a national pariah. Our great City needs great leadership, but time and again the political leadership has been found badly wanting and residents are paying the cost.”