Welfare of people who are shielding up for discussion by council

Powys County Council’s economy, residents, communities and governance scrutiny committee will discuss “welfare calls” at their meeting on Thursday.

Councillors will be told how the council helped people who are at the highest risk of severe illness if they catch Covid-19.

The report explains that these people, known as “the shielded group”, were identified by the National Health Service, and have been advised by letter to self-isolate.

Portfolio holder for corporate governance and engagement, Councillor Graham Breeze, said: “The role of the authority has been vital in supporting our vulnerable residents throughout this challenging period.

“The letter sent from Welsh Government to the shielded group asked them to rely on family, friends and other local support networks to help with anything they may need during the period that they were being asked to isolate.

“If the shielded person did not have anyone to rely on for help, they were asked to contact their local authority.”

These people received a basic package of food and household essentials, delivered direct to their door each week by a food service supplier.

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On March 25, Powys received its first data from the Welsh Government, identifying 538 residents in this group .

Since then another 16 updates have been received from Welsh Government as further health conditions were added to the list and GP’s identified more patients, bringing the total to 5,766.

On top of this a further 4,538 people were identified as vulnerable from data held by the council's social care, housing and customer services departments.

They were also included in welfare calls.

At the moment, 10 council workers redeployed from other departments, are making the calls.

Calls being received by the council are being dealt with by the customer services team.

Up to June 13, a total 18,383 calls have been made or received by the council

At the outset, the Welsh Government received 915 request for food boxes, this was 15.8 per cent of the people classed as shielding.

This figure has now dropped to 589.

On June 4, the Welsh Government announced that “shielding” was to be extended until August 16.

The council is now talking to Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations to recruit volunteers to be able to allow the service to continue.