Local brain drain ‘puts Powys at risk’

The biggest risk to Powys is the loss of 1,000 people of working age who leave the county each year, members of an audit committee at Powys County Council have been told.

This means that there are less people in the county who are able to work and pay taxes, impacting on the budget funding formula and a reason why PCC languishes at the bottom of the Welsh Government budget allocation.

The issue was identified by the council’s Adult Services as it has an ageing workforce of carers and noted it as a “high risk” in October 2017. But it is now seen as a risk for the whole organisation.

Chairman of the PCC audit committee, Cllr John Morris, said: “We wanted an explanation as to why this is catastrophic and to see what mitigation is being taken.”

Head of commissioning for social services, Dylan Owen, explained: “Statistics and demographic projections are telling us that the population in Powys will decrease and will continue to do so for 15 to 20 years.

“We’re facing significant reduction, about 1,000 people a year of the working age population (16 to 64) and clearly it’s a concern for all of us.”

In 2014, Powys had 77,000 people of a working age and it will go down to 57,000 by 2034. Adult Services provide 12,000 hours of care a week which costs just over £10 million a year.

Mr Owen added: “We are feeling the pinch in domiciliary care. We are facing real challenges recruiting and retaining staff. We have an ageing workforce and people will be looking to retire during this time period. And this is at a time when we are providing less care.”

Mr Owen added that during the past month the council had 26 people waiting for care packages.

This was an issue across the council and “everywhere else” and it had been agreed that the risk should now be held at director level.

Corporate director for transformation, Vanessa Young, has agreed to take it over.

Cllr William Powell recalled a BBC Radio 4 programme, ‘No County for Young People’ by comedian Sarah Breese who comes from Powys and aired in February.

The programme looked into the reasons why under 25s were leaving the county in their droves.

Cllr Powell said: “There could not be a more serious situation we can face and we can’t confine it to one area. The radio programme was a very insightful piece of work.”

Cllr Ange Williams said: “50 per cent of the people in the county volunteer, and they are also getting older. It needs to be looked at as we’re using the third sector a lot more to help us.”

Cllr Karl Lewis added: “If you want to retain staff, it’s quite easy you just pay them more. We need to be linking up with the Welsh Government more to change the funding formula.”

Cllr Lewis believed that other local authorities would be willing to follow PCC “down that route”.

The issue will be raised with the Public Service Board which includes members form the Health Board, Fire and Rescue Authority and Natural Resources Wales.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter