What Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council does

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is the statutory local government authority for the Solihull Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England, constituted under the Local Government Act 1972 and tracing administrative continuity to council minutes from 1872. Headquartered at Council House, Manor Square, Solihull (B91 3QB), it employs between 5,001 and 10,000 staff and delivers the full suite of mandatory English local-authority functions: waste and recycling management (over 180,000 weekly collections via partners Veolia and Idverde), highways maintenance (5,000km+ of roads, 55,000+ streetlights under a £315m Balfour Beatty contract), planning and building control, adult social care, children's services and fostering across the West Midlands, housing (via wholly-owned subsidiary Solihull Community Housing), electoral registration, licensing, environmental health, school admissions, libraries (using the Spydus LMS), and registration services. It also runs The Core Theatre, allotment sites, public rights of way (150+ miles / 450+ routes), and Bickenhill Household Waste and Recycling Centre.

The council's service backbone is the My Accounts online portal (council tax, benefits, libraries, parking, planning, business rates, parent portal) hosted at solihull.gov.uk, an integrated site with 24/7 self-service, Reciteme-driven accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA-aligned, text-to-speech in 65 voices, 100+ language translations), and a "Find My Nearest" mapping utility. Distribution is multi-channel: two Solihull Connect walk-in centres (The Core Theatre Square and The Bluebell Centre in Chelmsley Wood), four Solihull Connect Local library hubs (Balsall Common, Dickens Heath, Shirley, plus Chelmsley Wood/Smiths Wood), a contact centre with 15+ dedicated phone lines, email, live chat, and partner referrals to Citizens Advice and Solihull Community Housing. Marketing and engagement are run via GovDelivery email alerts, Facebook (library pages), Your Voice Solihull consultation platform, The Core Theatre programming, and regional media.

Solihull MBC has no commercial revenue model in the conventional sense. Funding flows from three statutory streams — residential council tax, business rates on commercial properties, and central government grants (including ring-fenced support such as the Household Support Fund) — supplemented by transactional service fees (bulky waste £42–£63, allotment rent £31–£74 per plot, premises licences) and capital receipts from surplus-property disposals (e.g., £23.5m raised at one Bond Wolfe auction). The customer base is effectively the entire resident population (~215,000) and all businesses operating within the borough, organised across hybrid segments: residents, businesses, children and families, adults requiring social care, and housing applicants. A new statutory household food waste collection launches 5 October 2026, and the £20m Holbeache Place regeneration with Muse and the West Midlands Combined Authority signals expanded place-making activity alongside ongoing highways, housing, and community-services delivery.

Name

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Legal name

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Website

https://solihull.gov.uk

Company type

Public

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is the statutory local government authority for the Solihull Metropolitan Borough in England's West Midlands, delivering mandatory public services — waste, planning, social care, housing, libraries, highways, and schools — to residents and businesses across the borough.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Government Services

NAICS

Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (9251), Administration of Housing Programs (925110), Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (92512), Community Housing Services (62422), Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (925)

SIC

Sanitary Services (4950), Refuse Systems (4953), Services-Social Services (8300), Services-To Dwellings & Other Buildings (7340)

akta.pro primary industry

Mayor/City Manager & General Administration (BPAIACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Solid Waste & Recycling Services Administration (BPAIACAH), Public Works & Municipal Infrastructure (Streets, Stormwater, Facilities) (BPAIACAF), Street & Public Space Litter Collection (Municipal Cleaning) (BPALAAAE), Public Works / In-House Municipal Collection Operations (EUAIAAAF)

Keywords

• Local government services
• Waste collection services
• Social care services
• Planning permissions
• Council housing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Solihull

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Council Tax: Primary local taxation from residential properties within the borough. Mandatory charge based on property valuations.
2. Business Rates: Levy on commercial properties within the borough. Online business rates account available for businesses.
3. Government Grants: Central government funding for mandatory functions including housing benefit administration and other statutory services.
4. Service Fees: Charges for specific services including bulky waste collection (£42-£63), premises licences, planning applications, and other discretionary services.
5. Allotment Rent: Annual rental fees for allotment plots: £74 full plot, £50 half plot, £31 quarter plot (2026/27).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is a statutory local government authority delivering a wide range of public services to residents, businesses, and visitors within the borough. Its core offering includes waste and recycling collection, social care for adults and children, housing and homelessness support, planning and building control, environmental health, libraries, leisure services, school admissions, council tax and benefits administration, licensing, and parking enforcement. Services are accessed via walk-in centres (including The Core Library and Chelmsley Wood Library), the My Accounts online portal, telephone, email, and partner organisations.

Product overview

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council operates as a local government authority providing a comprehensive portfolio of digital and in-person services to residents. The digital offering consists primarily of the My Accounts online portal system, which provides access to multiple service modules including council tax, benefits, libraries, parking, planning, and business rates. The council's core service portfolio spans waste management (including new food waste collections launching October 2026), libraries with 24/7 digital resources, fostering and kinship care services, school admissions, housing support, community facilities including Solihull Connect Walk in Centres and Solihull Connect Local hubs, events programming, and consumer protection. The technology stack integrates third-party platforms including Spydus for library management, multiple genealogy research tools (Ancestry, Find My Past, The Genealogist), news archives (Newsbank, British Newspaper Archive), accessibility tools (Reciteme), and contract partners for service delivery (Veolia, Idverde for waste services). No AI capabilities or public API are currently offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Waste and Recycling Collection Statutory kerbside collection of household waste, mixed dry recycling, and food waste from residential properties across the borough, with information on bin day, container types, and assisted collections.
• Garden Waste Subscription Service Optional paid subscription service providing seasonal kerbside collection of garden waste from residential properties for an annual fee.
• Bulky Waste Collection Chargeable on-demand collection service for large household items that cannot be disposed of through normal kerbside collections, booked and paid for through the Council.
• Commercial Waste Collection Waste and recycling collection services offered by the Council to local businesses and commercial premises in the borough.
• Council Housing and Homelessness Service Delivery and administration of council-owned housing, housing allocations, homelessness prevention, and housing advice for residents of the borough.
• Planning Applications and Building Control Statutory processing of planning applications and building control approvals for residential and commercial development within the borough, including fee-based application submissions.
• Licensing Services Issuance and administration of statutory licences including premises licences, event licences, taxi and private hire licences, and other regulated activities.
• Environmental Health Services Investigation and enforcement of environmental health matters including food safety, noise, pollution, and public health standards for businesses and residents.
• Council Tax Administration and Council Tax Reduction Administration, billing, and collection of council tax from residential properties, plus means-tested Council Tax Reduction support for lower-income households.
• Business Rates Administration Administration, billing, and collection of National Non-Domestic Rates from commercial ratepayers in the borough, including reliefs and exemptions.
• Housing Benefit and Discretionary Support Assessment and payment of Housing Benefit and related discretionary awards administered on behalf of residents in need of financial support.
• Adult Social Care Services Statutory social care assessments, support planning, and provision of services for adults with eligible care needs in the borough.
• Children's Social Care Services Statutory safeguarding, child protection, and family support services for children and families in the borough.
• School Admissions and Place Allocation Coordination of school admissions, allocation of pupil places, and administration of admission appeals for council-maintained and supported schools.
• Library Services Operation of public library branches including The Core Library and Chelmsley Wood Library, offering book lending, information services, and community programmes.
• Leisure Services Operation of council leisure facilities and provision of concessionary access for eligible groups such as older residents and children.
• Parking Services Management of council car parks, on-street parking enforcement, and administration of parking permits and penalty notices.

Quantifiable outcome

• 180,000+ weekly waste collections
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• MusemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2026Nationwide placemaker Muse is leading the Holbeche Place mixed-use development in partnership with Solihull Council, a £20m investment project proposing up to 1,600 homes.
• West Midlands Combined AuthoritymajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2026Public sector backing from Mayor Richard Parker and the West Midlands Combined Authority provides the £20m investment to unlock the Holbeache Place regeneration initiative.
• Balfour Beatty Living PlacescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 April 2026Balfour Beatty Living Places secured a seven-year highways maintenance contract worth £315m (£900m potential) from Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, and Warwickshire County Council. This is the company's third consecutive term for the Warwickshire Highways Maintenance project, covering over 5,000km of roads and 55,000+ streetlights until spring 2033.
• Business Growth West MidlandsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 December 2024Business Growth West Midlands administers the Birmingham and Solihull Export Programme (BASEP), providing specialist funding to help businesses expand into international markets.
• VeoliacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVeolia is the primary waste collection contractor partner, responsible for carrying out over 180,000 waste collections weekly from households in the borough.
• IdverdecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIdverde serves as the secondary waste collection contractor partner working alongside Veolia for waste and recycling services in Solihull.
• Citizens AdviceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCitizens Advice works in partnership with the council to provide first-level consumer advice and information, with more complex problems referred to Trading Standards.
• Bond WolfeminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorProperty auctioneer Bond Wolfe conducts regular property auctions on behalf of the council, selling surplus properties including a former day centre for £340,000.
• RichboroughminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDevelopment company Richborough submitted planning application for up to 300 homes at Golden End Farms in Knowle, Solihull.
• Heartwood InnsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHospitality group Heartwood Inns partnered with Solihull Council to convert a historic nightclub site into a pub with 26 rooms (The Muddy Fox).

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Coventry City Council: A directly comparable West Midlands metropolitan authority with overlapping waste, highways, and social care functions. Coventry is a co-party to the £315m Balfour Beatty highways contract with Solihull, evidencing identical delivery models and service scope.
• Birmingham City Council: The largest West Midlands metropolitan authority, delivering the same statutory service portfolio — waste collection, social care, housing, planning — as Solihull, with the Birmingham and Solihull Export Programme (BASEP) explicitly framing them as adjacent regional partners.
• Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council: A neighbouring West Midlands metropolitan borough offering the same mandatory local authority service suite (waste, social care, schools, libraries, planning) to a similar demographic profile, making it a near-direct structural comparator.
• Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council: Another West Midlands metropolitan authority with directly overlapping statutory functions, scale, and operating model — same funding mix of council tax, business rates, and central grants, and comparable digital service delivery approach.
• Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council: A directly comparable Black Country metropolitan borough delivering the same local-authority service portfolio to a similar population size, providing a clean structural peer for cost and performance benchmarking.
• Warwickshire County Council: County-level authority sharing the Balfour Beatty highways contract with Solihull. While a county rather than a metropolitan borough, it provides the upper-tier statutory services (education, social care) that complement Solihull's borough-level delivery, making it a tightly coupled operating peer.

Regional players

• Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames: A London borough operating an equivalent metropolitan-borough service model (waste, social care, libraries, planning). Geographically distinct but highly comparable in scale, governance, and digital-service maturity for a Solihull-style borough.
• London Borough of Sutton: A London borough of similar population and affluence profile delivering the same statutory services. Useful as a regional comparator outside the West Midlands for benchmarking service quality and digital adoption.
• Trafford Council: A Greater Manchester metropolitan borough of comparable population and demographic mix, running the same statutory service portfolio — a strong out-of-region peer for performance, digital, and contractor-partnership benchmarking.
• Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council: A Greater Manchester metropolitan authority of similar size and service scope. Stockport is widely regarded as a digitally advanced council, providing a useful out-of-region benchmark for Solihull's digital service transformation roadmap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/solihullcouncil
• Xx.com/solihullcouncil

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council