SAVINGS of more than £1m demanded from Ceredigion’s schools will be needed to cover cost increases, councillors have heard.

As part of draft budget papers, members of the learning communities scrutiny committee had heard that governing bodies were expected to make savings of more than £1m, although no further details were provided about where that money was expected to come from.

The leader of the opposition Welsh Liberal Democrats on the council, Cllr Ceredig Davies, insisted the demand on schools would have a “detrimental effect” and that more concern should have been raised about how governing bodies would make the cuts within schools.

A report as part of the scrutiny committee papers admitted that it was likely that staff redundancies would have to be made to meet the savings target.

But Barry Rees, the head of learning services, said schools had accepted that they would receive a flat budget at the same level as last year with any increases in costs, including staff pay increases, having to be found by the schools themselves.

Cllr Davies hit out at the scrutiny committee and committee chair Odwyn Davies, and said: “I’m afraid you’ve let the schools down without drawing attention to that.

“There will be a detrimental effect on our schools. Teachers will do their best to provide the best possible education, but this will have an effect on our young people.

“Our young people are at the centre of everything they do and they only get one chance.”

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