Getting rid of the lowest paid staff and saddling residents with huge tax rises seems to be Ceredigion County Council’s answer to a multi-million pound black hole at the heart of its finances.

A report shows that dozens of low paid staff were laid off by the council in a bid to balance the books while none earning more than £60,000 were let go and the number of staff at higher pay levels ballooned to more than 130.

The lowest paid council workers – as well as residents hit with huge council tax rises - bore the brunt of the authority’s attempts to wrangle with a multi-million pound financial black hole, the council’s statement of accounts for 2024/25 shows.

Ceredigion laid off 62 staff members by compulsory or voluntary redundancy in 2024/25 - all of which earned under £40,000 a year.

The majority of the staff who lost their jobs were among the lowest paid, with 52 of the 62 earning less than £20,000.

The staff departures cost the council more than £620,000.

It brings the cost of redundancies and job terminations at the council over the past two years beyond the £1m mark.

No staff earning more than £40,000 were let go last year.

As low-paid staff lost their job amid budget cuts, the number of council employees earning above £60,000 a year rose from 109 in 2023/24 to 136 last year.

That number includes all senior officers and the Chief Executive, Eifion Evans, whose pay in 2024/25 rose from £138,674 the previous year to £142,141 – topping out at £171,999 a year including pension contributions.

26 of the lowest paid staff lost their jobs through compulsory redundancies – up from just seven the year before.

The same situation unfolded last year at the council, with its 2023/24 statement of accounts outlining a similar story.

Last year, 39 members of staff lost their jobs by compulsory or voluntary redundancy - all of which earned under £40,000 a year – while the number of employees who earn £60,000 a year or more rose to 109.

The total employee cost for the council rose by £9m from just over £123m a year in 2023/24 to £132.1m in 2023/24, figures show.

Despite the authority raising council tax for residents way beyond inflation, cutting back services and letting staff go, the authority’s Medium Term Financial Strategy warns that things are unlikely to get easier.

That document outlines that the council is facing a budget deficit without savings and tax increases of around £5m each year.

With the Welsh Government offering just a 2.3 per cent funding increase from April, further council tax rises and more job cuts as services are stripped back are expected.

As low paid staff are laid off to balance the books, residents have been asked to reach into their pockets to plug the financial gap, with a cumulative near 40 per cent rise in council tax over the past three years.