Conwy Council jobs could be at risk, cabinet is warned!

 
Councillor Paul Luckock is correct people need to know what is happening, however some projects such as the Nursery above need to stand on their own financial feet and if they are not viable they need to close rather than be continuously bailed out financially. UP to 40 Conwy Council jobs could be at risk once a UK Government “shared prosperity” fund comes to an end, a senior council officer has warned.

At a cabinet meeting at Bodlondeb, Abergele councillor Paul Luckock pressed the cabinet member for a sustainable economy Cllr Nigel Smith, for details around “time-limited” jobs funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).

The UK Government allocated £126 million to North Wales to deliver the programme between 2022/23 and 2024/25, with over £20m allocated to Conwy for the core programme of regeneration projects.

The funding financed a number of projects focused on increasing life chances, “community and place”, supporting local business, as well as people and skills, including adult numeracy.

The funds helped with “pathways into employment”; projects such as Bron y Nant Nursery and Shop, which provides work opportunities for people with learning disabilities; and several other schemes, including those aimed at reducing learning barriers for young people. But following the end of the current SPF funding period on 31 March 2025, UK Government has announced that “UKSPF Transition funding” will be available in 2025/26 – with an allocation for Conwy of £8.2m, continuing to fund schemes into 2025/26.

Cllr Luckock wanted to know how many members of staff’s wages were “part or fully funded by this grant?”.

He said: “My view is, for political transparency reasons, that information is public interest information, and therefore, it should be, by some mechanism, in the public domain.” He added he was concerned the detail of which and how many staff were employed through the fund was not in the public domain.

Cllr Smith said the staff potentially at risk were aware they were working on ‘time-limited’ contracts.

Conwy’s head of economy and culture Sarah Ecob then elaborated, admitting jobs could be at risk once the funding came to an end. “In terms of the number of staff, we have 40 staff on SPF-funded contracts that would be at risk if the SPF funding came to an end as Cllr Nigel (Smith) mentioned,” she said.

“Those are staff that have been given time-limited contracts as often happens when we have grant funding. Where managers think that the job should continue, that it is fundamental, that there are reasons for it continuing, managers in the council are quite adept at looking for alternative grants.”

She added: “So we are all quite used to the fact that there are grants that come and go. But there are 40 jobs that are specifically SPF funded. When that particular funding comes to an end, they are likely to be at risk unless managers decide to go for funding elsewhere.”

The cabinet acknowledged that existing arrangements for the administration of UKSPF funding will continue for 2025/2026. From ....https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/25016697.conwy-council-jobs-risk-cabinet-warned/