ALMOST 180 social services staff face being moved to fill empty desks at the county council head offices in Aberaeron and Aberystwyth because of a huge drop in council staff numbers.

The council has considered the future of all four of its main offices including Minaeron in Aberaeron, where the social services staff are based, after funding cuts saw the number of staff employed by the council drop significantly.

That has led to a proposal for Minaeron to be sold, with staff deployed to Penmorfa in Aberaeron and Canolfan Rheidol in Aberystwyth, which was built in 2009 at a cost of £15m.

A report that went before the council’s Cabinet on Tuesday, 18 October, said, with staff numbers reduced from previous years and an expectation that staff numbers would drop further, there was no need for as much office accommodation.

Figures show that Minaeron is the only building with no vacant desks, with all 178 desks taken up. That compares to 51 vacancies in Penmorfa, which is accommodating 211 employees, and 40 vacancies in Canolfan Rheidol, which has 330 staff based there. County Hall in Aberaeron has seven vacancies and 76 members of staff in place. The report also identified ‘additional capacity’ of 138 spaces across the four sites, making 236 potential spare spaces.

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