COST-CUTTING at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth has led to staff numbers falling by 20 per cent in three years, leaving “excessive workloads” and “declining morale” among employees, a report has revealed.

A report by the Auditor General for Wales, Huw Vaughan Thomas, released last week shows that, while 45 posts were lost at the library since 2014, volunteer hours rocketing by 70 per cent to make up the shortfall.

The jobs were lost as part of a “restructuring programme”, with the library facing mounting losses that threatened to make the library “unsustainable”.

The 27 voluntary severance packages agreed between 2014 and 2016 saw the library fork out a little over £1.35m.

“Events since 2013 resulted in a fall in staff morale and in declining trust and confidence in the library’s leadership at both executive and board level,” Mr Vaughan Thomas’ report found.

“Staff focus groups and trades union representatives [have] referred to a number of negative perceptions, including that the continuing restructuring process has resulted in excessive workloads for certain staff, and that those staff have had insufficient guidance in order to be able to prioritise effectively.”

The report added that “a lack of pay progression has led to the erosion of the value of salaries”.

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