Following the Welsh Government's announcement of a 10.5% reduction in our budget for the 2024/25 financial year, we have made significant savings through a process of voluntary redundancies, a restructuring of our Senior Leadership Team and several internal changes, including a change in funding cycles for Lottery Grants. 11 members of staff have accepted voluntary redundancy and two members of our Senior Leadership Team have left the company.
The two members of the Senior Leadership Team who are leaving are: Lleucu Siencyn, Director, Arts Development and Richard Nicholls, Director, Operations.
The Arts Council of Wales would like to sincerely thank all these people for the dedication, energy, and passion they have shown for the arts; some staff worked with us for over twenty years. We wish them all the very best for the future.
The redundancies were made in line with our Redundancy Policy and in consultation with the union that represents our employees.
From now on, decisions on the small grants of the ‘Create’ fund will be made within eight weeks instead of six, and the large Create grants will be decided within ten weeks instead of nine. (Please note that we have removed the 3 July deadline for Create, so that we can refocus current programmes and explore targeted funding opportunities.)
There are budgetary pressures across all our activities, and it does mean that we have had to make difficult decisions across all our grant schemes, many of which will have less money available to them. It is inevitable therefore that it will be a very competitive application process. With fewer staff, we will have to tailor our support and put the emphasis on those who are applying for the first time and those who may face obstacles when applying for funding.
There will be a period of adjustment as we share responsibilities and reorganize. We thank you in advance for your patience whilst we make these changes.
By making these adjustments, as well as changing the settlement for multi-year funding and other internal savings, we are confident that no more savings will have to be made through redundancies.