Madam,

I read with interest your article ‘Council pay rises to be backdated’ (31 January), which says that senior officers of Ceredigion County Council are to receive a pay rise backdated to April 2018.

This is intended to ’reflect the expansion in areas of responsibility due to the reduction in director roles’.

It is my sincere hope that this is repeated throughout the county council’s workforce to reflect the fact that they too have seen an ‘expansion in areas of responsibility’ and in workload as colleagues opt for voluntary redundancies or are not replaced when they leave.

It would reflect poorly on the county council if they were to be seen to be applying one set of standards for the senior officers and another for the rank and file staff.

The county council says in making this decision that it is acting on the advice of independent consultation. Well advice can be declined as well as accepted.

Lastly, I’m very pleased that the county council’s chief executive Eifion Evans has saved £241,000 through corporate restructuring.

This, added to the £200,000 council leader Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn found ‘down the back of the sofa’ for the National Eisteddfod, to be held in Tregaron in 2020, could have kept the Bodlondeb home in Penparcau open.

Yours etc,

George Holloway, Rhoshendre, Waunfawr, Aberystwyth.

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