Report to councillors raises fears people without internet could be left behind

Councillors were given an update on how the customer services review is coming along at an Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee meeting on Monday.

Once completed, the review would inform the council how to best structure its customer services. The review is expected to be completed by March 2026.

Councillors received a presentation which explained feedback from the public when they were asked about the "principles" that customer services should be based upon.

The consultation showed that 97 per cent of people who took part held "place" as their top principle.

The "digital" principle as a "primary solution" to deliver services had caused the most controversy, with 22 per cent of people disagreeing with it and 18 per cent of people neutral to it.

Committee chairwoman Liberal Democrat Councillor Angela Davies said: "We are hearing a lot of people are still choosing face-to-face or in person.

"That's not going to be possible in every region and area and under the Sustainable Powys four hub models, it's going to be less likely."

Councillor Davies said that she wanted "assurance" given to residents on what can and can't be delivered.

Interim head of economy and digital services Ellen Sullivan said that the council will need to be "clear" on the expectations that people should have when contacting the council.

Councillor Davies pointed out that the details of the presentation show that there are more than 60,000 households in Powys, while there are more than 74,000 online accounts.

Councillor Davies said: "Clearly there's more than one individual in some households that have an online account. Do we know how many households have no online accounts? We're talking about those who prefer face-to-face or paper contact."

Ms Sullivan replied: "No, we don’t have that information at the moment."

She said that the MyPowys account system would also be part of the review as the council is not using it "as best we can".

Ms Sullivan added: "In the next couple of months we’ll get a lot more information about how people use them and how often and what else they may want to use that account for."

This could see the council find extra uses for the MyPowys account.

Powys Independents' Councillor Graham Breeze said: "I'm disappointed to see we will have to wait until March 2026 just for the completion of a review before we consider what options need to be taken, it's still a long way away."

Ms Sullivan explained that March 2026 is the "end date" and there would be changes and improvements before then.

The committee noted the report.