Press Releases

New structure for Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Following a 90-day consultation period with its staff and trade unions, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales today (13 May) announced a new structure for the organization.

In January 2013 Amgueddfa Cymru presented a proposed new structure to its staff and trade unions, which would help achieve the savings of £2.5 million required over the next three years due to a reduced budget.

 

Amgueddfa Cymru also committed to reviewing how it could better research, interpret and communicate the national collection to the people of Wales, and engage with its visitors while maintaining world-class expertise across all its disciplines.

 

Since then, productive discussions have taken place between staff, trade unions and the Senior Management Team and a number of alternative approaches received, many of which have informed and strengthened the final structure.

 

Under the new structure, a total of 23 posts will be lost – 12 less than was originally proposed. Overall 134 jobs will be affected in some way, as opposed to the figure of 160 announced in January. Amgueddfa Cymru hopes it can avoid compulsory redundancies by offering redeployment into vacant posts, and through schemes such as voluntary redundancy and early retirement.

 

In making these changes, which will be implemented from June this year, the organization will maintain its service to the public at all its sites. The new structure will not affect the day-to-day operations of the seven national museums across Wales. Amgueddfa Cymru will continue to offer visitors quality experiences at each of its museums, which together attracted over 1.75 million people last year.

 

Going forward, Amgueddfa Cymru will continue to have a strong curatorial and conservation team made up of 120 members of staff, retaining high level international expertise across all departments.

 

Amgueddfa Cymru also remains committed to delivering key projects such as the redevelopment of St Fagans: National History Museum, a National Museum of Natural Sciences and building on partnership work throughout Wales and beyond.