Cuts at childcare charity Mudiad Meithrin after £471,000 loss

The Welsh-medium childcare provider Mudiad Meithrin made a loss of £471,000 during the last financial year, according to its latest accounts.

Some services, including a creche in Cardiff city centre, will close to save money.

The charity also confirmed it is facing further losses for the current year.

Mudiad Meithrin insist "financial structures" are in place to offer a more effective service after a challenging time up to March 2016.

The £471,000 lost was more than double the financial loss of £181,000 for the year 2015.

It has confirmed that the creche at the Yr Hen Lyfrgell centre in Cardiff's old library would close on 12 November due to "lack of interest in the service".

Mudiad Meithrin, established in 1971 to promote Welsh language education, employ 200 staff and those affected by any closures will be moved to other local projects.

The organisation's financial accounts said: "The staffing situation in the finance department was unstable and this caused various problems and challenges.

"We also saw a reduction in the income from the county councils and an increase in legal costs, accountancy fees and, in an increasingly competitive market, this led to financial losses in our nurseries and Dewin a Doti shop."

BBC Wales has also been told that a change in the way a childcare training scheme is being financed would result in a £200,000 loss during the current financial year.

"We are working hard to identify savings, but we foresee a challenging financial year again" a spokesman for Mudiad Meithrin said.

"Our strategy team are revising our budget regularly in order to keep an eye on costs and income, whilst also applying for various grants and other sources of income."