One in five Conwy schools could be forced to make redundancies due to council cuts

One in five Conwy schools could be forced to make redundancies because of budget cuts of five per cent requested by the local authority.

Conwy Council’s cabinet member for education Julie Fallon has warned the cuts could affect pupils marginalised by socio-economic factors, as well as children needing emotional support and those with disabilities.

The authority has asked all of its services to make ten per cent cuts across the board – with only education and social services being asked to look for lesser savings of five per cent.

And as Conwy – which faces a £19.8m budget shortfall – tries to balance its books, the council’s finance scrutiny committee has quizzed schools on what having to make savings would mean for them.

Speaking at a special cabinet meeting held this week, Cllr Fallon told other councillors that 21 per cent of schools have said they would make redundancies.

However, of Conwy’s 64 schools, only 43 have so far responded, meaning the figure could increase.

Conwy has 52 primary schools, seven secondary schools, one special school, and four pupil referral units.

Cllr Fallon said: “Schools were asked to give us an indication of where they may find the cuts. So 21 per cent are looking at staff redundancies, and I will say that we’ve had 43 schools respond to this, so it may be that the numbers could increase.

“53 per cent are looking at other staff reductions; 33 per cent building maintenance, which obviously can have a knock-on effect on budgets in other ways as well.

“44 per cent are looking in terms of supplies and services, and 14 per cent of schools currently highlighted that they may need to come to the local authority for a loan. At least 70 per cent of schools say they will be using balances to manage their budget.”

Cllr Fallon said many schools would see their balances “wiped out” and some would risk failing to deliver their statutory duties by not having enough teachers and other staff.

She added: “There will be an impact really across the board in terms of the socio-economic, Welsh language and disability impact.

“The post-Covid period has been raised in particular in terms of emotional support, with there not being enough staff to offer that additional provision.

“I thought it was important as we had this feedback that I take the opportunity to raise this.”

Council leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey said: “I don’t think it is a good idea to ask schools to make cuts at these levels, but that is the situation we are in.

“The last budget I’ve been involved in, I think the cabinet’s combined cuts to schools over two years was 1.5 per cent.

“We are all governors at schools. I’ve got two children still at high school, and we know they are struggling, so it is not a question that we think that it is a good idea. This is the situation we are in.”

By Richard Evans – Local Democracy Reporter