THE Welsh Government must ensure that the uplifts in teacher’s pay is fully funded by the government, says Carmarthenshire councillors.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cllr Glynog Davies – the council’s cabinet member for education and Welsh language - filed a notice of motion in front of the council’s full council on Wednesday, January 24, stating that the two 1.5 per cent pay uplifts resulted in the council needing to find an extra £3m.

He called for the Welsh Government to avoid putting extra pressure on councils by funding the pay uplift themselves. He said; “The Welsh Government should fully fund the pay uplifts in order to avoid putting an additional pressure on local authorities and the knock-on impact on school budgets, which are already extremely tight.”

The motion was seconded by Cllr Alun Lenny, the council’s cabinet member for resources. He also pointed out that NAHT Cymru – the school leaders’ union – has also called for the Welsh Government to meet the salary uplift in a report published on Tuesday, January 23.

“They’ve described the failure to fully fund the pay award as ‘a hammer blow’ – which it is for schools and for all local authorities,” he said.

“The union echoes our belief that this dismal situation stems from constant cuts in the Welsh budget by Westminster. As a council, we in Carmarthenshire are some £120m worse off in real terms since the Tory government launched its austerity strategy over a decade ago. The situation in our schools and other essential public services is rapidly becoming unsustainable.”