No jobs will be lost at Aberystwyth University, the institution has insisted, despite recording a loss of more than £5 million in its latest yearly accounts.

The university’s financial statements for the year ending 31 July 2020, published on Tuesday, 30 March, report losses of more than £5m.

The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Elizabeth Treasure said the deficit was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in “additional costs and lost income”, but that it “will not necessitate job losses or restructuring”.

The financial report only takes into account the first four months of the pandemic, with reporting up to July last year.

The scale of lost income and associated pandemic costs from July onwards is not known, and will be revealed in next year’s accounts.

The university said the losses to July 2020 include the “significant fall in accommodation fee income, loss of conference and other trading income, the costs of adapting campus, implementing additional cleaning, and the costs of taking on additional staff to help with teaching workload”.

Those losses would have continued past July as the pandemic forced students to stay away and the country remained in lockdown amid a second wave over winter.

Despite the loss, and potential further losses accrued since July, Prof Treasure said the university was “on course” to achieve its budget until the pandemic hit, and that the losses were “short-term” and do not affect the long-term sustainability of the institution.

Prof Treasure said: “Aberystwyth University has achieved its budget in the last two years and was on target to do so again in 2019-2020.

“This would have been the first year it had achieved an operating surplus since 2013-14 as a result of our programme of measures which have succeeded in putting our finances on a sustainable footing.

“However, in common with institutions throughout the higher education sector and beyond, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant financial impact on the university.

“The costs have been large, but we deem them to be relatively short-term – a view confirmed by our external auditors.

“This means that they do not in any way reflect negatively on the long-term financial sustainability of the university.

“Indeed, the university intends to continue investing in its workforce and estate as we look towards the end of the pandemic.

“Budgets will be tight, but as long as our recruitment targets are met, we see no reason to plan for restructuring, staffing reductions or downscaling of our teaching and research facility developments as a result of these Covid-19 associated losses.

“Despite the clearly significant impacts of Covid-19, during the 2019/20 year, progress was still achieved in a number of areas.

“Our plans to grow as a university will therefore continue.”

The university said it “remains committed to continue investing in its workforce and estate”, despite the “significant Covid-19 costs”.