Public sector bodies in Wales may shed as many as 21,000 jobs over four years in balancing 'unprecedented' real terms funding cuts of £1.9bn, the Wales Audit Office (WAO) has forecast.

Auditor General for Wales, Huw Vaughan Thomas said excellent leadership will be needed to motivate staff asked to take the pain of real-terms wage cuts. He added effective workforce planning must ensure redundancies and recruitment freezes don't impact on service delivery.