FRONT-LINE council employees in Gwynedd recorded the highest number of physical and verbal assaults for any council in north and mid Wales, an investigation has found.

The figures show that almost half of the 2,619 reported assaults took place on staff working in schools (1,193), leading to calls for more to be done to protect teachers and other educational support workers while performing their day to day duties.

The figures, obtained via freedom of information requests, revealed that the highest number of assaults took place in Gwynedd, where 838 incidents involving violence on council staff were reported between 2015/16 and 2017/18.

A total of 315 of these were on teachers and other school support staff.

Conwy, meanwhile, reported 391 assaults on council staff over the same period – slightly higher than 354 in Denbighshire.

Ceredigion, despite reporting the lowest number of assaults on its own employees, highlighted instances including actual physical violence on one of its mental health workers while visiting a hospital and assaults of both a physical and verbal nature on members of the parking enforcement team.

Another example highlighted was a staff member within the family and children’s service being bitten while performing their daily tasks.

Several authorities did not hold information on how many of the incidents were passed on to Police, but Anglesey Council confirmed that none were passed onto officers.

A spokesperson for Gwynedd Council, pointed out that the figures included reports of violence by individuals under care and children under 18.

“The council takes the health, safety and welfare of our staff very seriously,” she said.

“We do not tolerate violence against staff members, and we encourage them to record all instances of verbal or physical attacks.

“All reported threats against staff are thoroughly investigated, and action taken to control risks.

“Any control measures will depend on the nature of the work undertaken by each service and the likelihood of verbal or physical abuse.”