Officers have denied “blackmailing” councillors to accept major cuts to school budgets which, a new report warns, could lead to job losses and impact the quality of education in Gwynedd.

Facing a further £2 million of cuts in 2020/21, members were asked to accept proposals to cut school spending by £728,080 as part of the council-wide cloth cutting exercise.

But alarmed councillors refused to accept the recommendation after being warned it would likely lead to a reduction in the number of teachers and/or ancillary staff, which would likely result in a detrimental impact on standards.

The biggest bone of contention presented to Gwynedd’s Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee on Thursday is a reduction of £463,900 by amending the pupil-teacher ratio – the formula that works out how many staff are required per pupil.

Despite being told such a move could eventually be avoided further down the line by raising council tax or if a better-than-expected central government settlement is reached, several members said they couldn’t support any measures that would weaken the county’s educational provision.

Cllr Gareth Jones said: “The potential effect this would have across the county scares me. It comes across as very flippant and I would urge officers to look at this again.” 

Chief executive Dilwyn Williams said the authority had little choice but to look at budget cuts across the board, despite repeated pleas to the Welsh Government for extra cash.

“This is a very difficult situation and I understand that,” he said.

“What the officers have done is to come up with the least worst possibilities.

“Other than cutting their budgets, what options do we have other than closing schools? If you’re not willing to cut the budget of individual schools, are you willing to consider that?”

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