ALL ANGLESEY council staff have been offered the chance to apply for voluntary redundancies as the authority braces itself for huge funding cuts. 

Around 3,300 council employees, including teachers and school support staff, received the offer as the authority looks to save around £20 million over the next four years.

The Welsh Government last week announced that Anglesey Council’s provisional settlement had been cut by 3.9 per cent from £96.6 million to £92.9 million.

Richard Parry Jones, Anglesey Council’s chief executive, said: “Each year it becomes harder to find savings and many of our services now have little option but to look at their staff.”

“It must be stressed that this will not guarantee that an employee can be released. We must still be able to keep the right balance of skills, abilities, experience and knowledge to ensure we can provide the best possible services to the people of Anglesey.

Mr Parry Jones said that there was a number of key posts that the council will be unable to do without, and in those instances redundancy would not be applicable.

He added: “We will, therefore, still reserve the right to refuse individual requests for voluntary redundancy where these might result in a less effective service provision or not be cost effective.”

The council announced it would also consider additional requests from staff for sabbaticals, secondments or career breaks.

Leighton Andrews AM, Welsh Government Public Services Minister, last week announced a £4.2 billion provisional settlement for 2015 -16, which was a 4.3 per cent decrease from the previous year.

Mr Andrews said: “The settlement I am announcing today is challenging but this is a consequence of the large scale budget reductions being imposed by the UK Government.

“The Welsh Government’s budget for 2015-16 will be around 10 per cent lower in real terms compared with 2010-11.

“However, unlike England, we have protected local authorities in Wales from the bulk of these cuts over the past five years.

"Spending on local services in England has decreased by around seven per cent in cash terms, while in Wales it has increased by three per cent."