Planned changes to music services in Ceredigion schools are being rejected by parents with the number of parents expressing interest in their child receiving the service falling dramatically, campaigners have said.

The changes, which will see central funding cuts to the service, likely job losses and an increase in fees charged, have been heavily criticised by campaigners with members of the Friends of Ceredigion Young Musicians saying that the council’s own figures on interest in the service show a considerable drop.

A report that went before the council’s Learning Communities scrutiny committee on Wednesday, 17 July, said there had been between 700 and 800 expressions of interest on youngsters taking part in the new service.

But a spokesperson for the group said that was a significant reduction from the 1,200 youngsters who received lessons from the service in 2018/19, and that while it would mean a drop of 36 per cent in terms of pupils receiving lessons, it would only lead to an increase in funding of eight per cent.

The spokesperson said: “We have warned for months that the cuts were badly thought out, and this seems to confirm it.

“The council aimed to cut the core funding and introduce new standard fees for lessons, higher than most parents currently pay.

“But if their own figures are to be believed, over a third of families may have been put off taking up instrument lessons, so the income that Ceredigion receives to fill the funding hole may increase by less than a tenth.

“We very much hope that the numbers of children receiving lessons next year will be higher than the council’s figures suggest, and we’ve been very active in encouraging parents to register their interest.”

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