A decline in the number of reports of domestic violence in Powys during the Covid-19 lockdown has caused concerns among the authorities.

At Powys Council's health and care scrutiny meeting on Thursday, May 28, councillors were told that a campaign has been run on social media showing the help available for people suffering domestic violence.

It followed fears that a drop in the number of enquiries about domestic violence support services in the county.

In response to a question from Councillor Susan McNicholas, director of social services Ali Bulman said the authority would expect the level of calls coming in to be consistent all the time.

She added: “We were very concerned about the drop in numbers of enquiries were getting around domestic violence.

“We have done a lot to promote the service particularly around domestic violence to access help and support and contacting the appropriate agencies including ourselves.”

She also told councillors if they were aware of any issues that they should pass that information on to staff as soon as possible.

Ms Bulman added that she would arrange a report focussing on domestic violence for the councillors to look at.

A report on the performance of children’s social services during April, had said that the service had seen an increase in contact and referrals during the last two weeks of the month.

The service believed this trend would would continue and they would get “progressively busier”, in part because of a campaign encouraging residents to report any concerns they had about children, young people and adults in their communities as well as highlight domestic abuse services.

Back in March, Dyfed-Powys Police has said they had seen reports of domestic violence fall by 39 per cent in the first week of lockdown.