Brecon and Radnorshire MP Fay Jones has called on Powys County Council to pause a planned strike at Llangors Primary School.

11 days of industrial action will take place at Llangors CiW Primary School, starting on Wednesday, April 10. This follows the announcement by the governing body that the school will need to make a teacher redundant following budgeting problems.

Members of NASUWT - The Teachers’ Union at Llangors CiW Primary School will take 11 days of discontinuous strike action through April, May and June, with the first strike day to take place on Wednesday.

The union says the strike action is over adverse management and employer practices, potential job loss, health and safety, working conditions and redundancy.

Ms Jones said: “I am staggered that Powys County Council has let it get this far. In less than two days, teachers will go on strike at a cherished local primary school. This is entirely avoidable if Powys County Council had simply gotten around the table to discuss the strike.

“After being made aware of the outcome of the ballot and the decision to strike, the local authority could have arranged a meeting to discuss the dispute. This would have paused the planned strikes. However, Powys County Council has failed to meet with the NASUWT meaning that the strikes will go ahead. I cannot understand why the leaders of Powys County Council are not prepared to act to stop these strikes.

“Children and parents have been through too much in recent years. It is critical that Powys County Council gets around the table urgently to discuss this issue, pausing the industrial action planned for later this week. The power to stop the strikes is in the County Council’s hands. I urge them to meet with Llangorse teachers, and the unions, immediately.”

A spokesperson for Powys County Council said: “Schools across Wales continue to face significant pressures due to falling pupil numbers as well as financial pressures including pay, energy and other costs.

“Although the council has agreed to include an additional £4.2m directly into Powys schools delegated budgets, we are unable to fully protect all schools from the funding pressures they face.

“Governing bodies, like council services, will need to consider how they manage their financial pressures within the resources available to them via the agreed school funding formula. This will mean that they face difficult decisions as to how they realign and set their budgets within the funding available to them.

“Governing bodies have a legal duty to set a balanced budget and failure to do so could result in the council taking appropriate action. However, the council has been proactively supporting schools across the county in their work to realign and set their budgets.

“The council fully supports the school’s governing body in their pro-active approach in dealing with these financial pressures and working to realign and set their budgets and believes that the school has acted in a correct and appropriate manner with the council’s support.

“Council officers met with the trade union on March 8 2024 regarding Llangors Church in Wales Primary School and relevant officers will continue discussions with them on this matter as it progresses through formal processes.”