DOZENS of school staff have taken redundancy in Conwy as the cash-strapped local authority slashes costs.

A total of 34 members of school staff have left via either voluntary or compulsory redundancy since slashing education budgets.

The authority raised council tax by 9.67 per cent for the current financial year, while slashing front-line service budgets by 10 per cent.

Schools were made to cut costs by 5 per cent for the second year running. Of the 34 redundancies, five were compulsory.

The cost of the redundancies is not known.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has asked Conwy Council to supply figures relating to the cost and savings made.

A spokeswoman for Conwy County Council said the redundancy process had now concluded.

She said: “Redundancy processes have been under way in some of our schools, which have now concluded.

“Fourteen schools concluded at voluntary stage. Three schools proceeded to compulsory stage.

“The above figures include community schools and foundation schools. We do not hold further information for the foundation schools because they are separate employers.

“The following information relates to community schools only: Number of redundancies: 34 individuals, of whom 29 took voluntary redundancy.

“The (voluntary) process covered a range of roles, job titles: Assistant Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher/Higher Level Teaching Assistant/Teaching Assistant/Teacher/Admin/Mid-day Supervisor.”

The spokeswoman said compulsory redundancies included staff working in teacher, teaching assistant, and admin roles.