Museum Wales and national library cuts alarm PCS union

The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth is home to items such as the White Book of Rhydderch, the earliest compendium of Welsh prose texts

Job cuts at Wales' national museums and library will see them "cease to fully function", the trade union PCS has claimed.

Museum Wales and the National Library were notified by the Welsh government in December of a reduction in their funding.

The library, based in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, said its cut will be £1.3m.

The Welsh government said it faced "the starkest and most painful financial situation" since devolution began.

The museum and library will have a 10.5% reduction in their funding for the upcoming financial year.

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That is a £3m reduction in the museum's grant, but a spokesperson said it continues to incur a year-on-year deficit of £1.5m, meaning it must address a total deficit of £4.5m by the end of March.

In a letter to Delyth Jewell, the chair of the Senedd's culture committee, PCS union representatives at the museum and library said the cuts will see both institutions cease to fully function.

"Both institutions have suffered from chronic underinvestment over many years according to the Welsh government's tailored reviews," they said.

There are seven National Museum Wales sites, including The Wool Museum in Llandysul, Carmarthenshire

A museum spokesperson said it was the largest funding cut in the museum's history and would have a sizeable impact its day-to-day operations.

The museum said 90% of the income received from the Welsh government is spent on staff costs and as a result of the cut, it will run voluntary severance and compulsory redundancies across the organisation.

Museum Wales consists of seven national museums, with collections from around the world.

They are: National Museum Cardiff; St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff; National Waterfront Museum, Swansea; Big Pit National Coal Museum, in Blaenavon, Torfaen; National Slate Museum, in Llanberis, Gwynedd; National Wool Museum, near Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire; National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon, Newport.

There are 5.3m items in the national collection, including paintings and fine art as well as the library and archives, many housed in Grade I listed buildings.

The library's collections include seven million books and newspapers, 1.5m maps and 950,000 photographs.

Library chief executive Pedr ap Llwyd said it posed a significant challenge.

He said the staff budget was 75% of the library's overall budget so it had no option but to reduce its workforce and has offered a voluntary severance scheme.

"Losing any of these valuable staff members will without doubt have an effect on our ability to maintain the library and its services to its current level," he added.

The Welsh government spokesperson said: "We have been clear going into our draft budget preparations that, because our budget is now worth £1.3bn less in real terms than when it was set in 2021, incredibly difficult decisions have had to be taken."

The Welsh government's final budget will be published next month.

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