Council worker attacks rocket as anger grows

FRONTLINE STAFF BEARING BRUNT OF PUBLIC FRUSTRATION

- HARRY LEACH News Reporter

BINMEN, school staff and even lollipop men and women have been attacked amid a warning front-line council staff are bearing the brunt of the public’s frustration with local services.

Assaults against Birmingham City Council workers almost doubled in the space of a year, startling new figures show.

There were 379 reports of abusive incidents in the 12 months to March 2025 - a 95% jump on the 194 cases in the previous year. A total of 136 attacks were reported in 2022/23.

In total, council staff reported 709 assaults or cases of abuse in the past three years.

Education workers were not included in the data collected by workplace injury specialists Legal Expert.

But staff across a range of council services - from binmen to school wardens - reported falling victim to physical or verbal attacks while on the job.