Birmingham City Council’s equal pay bill ripped through the £1 billion barrier leaving little option but to sell some of the local authority’s ‘crown jewels’ to settle claims.

The Post can reveal the total figure which the city’s taxpayers face paying has leapt from £890 million last March, when it was described by a senior councillor as ‘a monument to our incompetence’.

It is now £1.1 billion following an agreement with trade unions to settle up to 11,000 outstanding claims last month.

That is the equivalent of £1,100 for every citizen in Birmingham.

Although there has been expectation that the total liabilities faced by the council would rise significantly, a report by auditors Grant Thornton has confirmed the council’s worst fears.

Now assets, including the NEC and the Grand Central Shopping Centre at New Street Station, are being considered for sale to meet the soaring bill.

Thousands of mainly female workers have or are set to receive payments, worth anything up to £100,000, after successfully proving unfair discrimination.

So far the Government has loaned the city council £530 million at low cost to cover claims, but told the local authority to fund the rest from either capital receipts or it revenue budget.

Council deputy leader Ian Ward said that the Government has put a cap has limited the council’s options.

He said: “We reached agreement with the trade unions and their solicitors Thompsons which settles the outstanding cases between the 2008 and 2010 salary reviews.

“The liabilities are obviously very high but we have only been given so much money from the Government. If we have to fund this from our own resources it will be very expensive.”

He said that there is currently a review of assets to see what can be used to generate income or what can be sold.

“We don’t want to sacrifice revenue for capital,” he added.

He confirmed that the NEC is being considered for sale, adding that the decision is as much about the investment the centre needs to bring it up to 21st century standards.

It has always been the council’s intention to sell the Grand Central Shopping Centre at the revamped New Street station once it is open for business.

The cases arose because under the ‘single status’ act job titles became comparable as equivalents and many in mainly female dominated roles such as cleaners, cooks and carers were not given bonuses which were available to male dominated roles such as binmen and road workers.

Attempts to equalise pay in 2008 in the face of claims also failed after binmen were ‘bribed’ with extra bonuses to avoid strike actions. The council also lost a series of court cases on the issue which further increased claims.

Before March 2012 the city council paid out £217 million to claimants, and has handed out a further £213 million since then. The latest accounts reveals that there are liabilities of £690 million outstanding.

Council borrowing is also at the upper limit of what is allowable after heavy investment over the last decade in housing stock and the Library of Birmingham. If the city takes up borrowing for equal pay it will end up making annual payments of between a quarter and a third of its controllable budget to finance the debt over many years.

The council’s accounts say that they expect to pay out £141 million in claims this financial year and settle the rest over the ‘medium term’ up to 2018.

Until recently the NEC, along with other council assets like the NIA, International Convention Centre and even the city council’s shareholding in Birmingham International Airport have been viewed as ‘crown jewel’ assets and not available for sale.

But in his council leadership bid in May Labour backbencher Coun John Clancy won support for his view that the NEC and other assets should be sold, or ‘sweated’, to settle the bill rather than pile on debt for future generations.

Since then, and with the latest cases settled, Sir Albert Bore and his leadership have come to a similar conclusion – although Sir Albert has also said that he will not be rushed into a ‘fire sale’.

Opposition Tory leader Lord Mike Whitby said: “The council has sufficient assets and revenue which if well-managed will cover the costs of equal pay without bankrupting the city.”

Earlier this year another Labour backbencher and member of the audit committee, Coun Barry Henley said: “This stands as a monument to our incompetence. The council was given plenty of time to prepare for equal pay and single status, but over many years we have been failed by our human resources management, our lawyers and politicians.”