Powys County Council has confirmed that work is underway to reopen some of the county’s day centres.

The centres will be reopened in a phased process as work continues to meet specific service needs of people throughout Powys.

A limited number of centres have opened, with sites in Brecon, Llanidloes and Ystradgynlais, while social service officers will be meeting with independent day service providers in the near future.

Cllr Sian Cox, cabinet member for a caring Powys, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has stopped our older residents from getting out and about, meeting with friends and doing many of the things that they enjoy.

“We understand the role that day centres can have in creating a space for connection and occupation for the people who use them, and how important they can be to carers, allowing them time to work, or to give them a break from their caring work.

“We recognise the tremendous contribution to the community made by unpaid carers throughout the county, and how much they need to have time for rest and recuperation, or for doing other things.

“Our re-opening of Day Centres is phased, because the pandemic has reduced how many staff we have, and placed restrictions on their return to work following illness; and we have to make sure each centre that re-opens has enough staff to run it safely.

“The day services in Llandrindod Wells do not have an opening date because some of our staff there are supporting other crucial services, like the reablement service, and we don’t yet have enough staff to run the Day Centre safely.”

The Park Day Centre in Newtown is leased to Powys Teaching Health Board until February 2023, with the organisation planning to use it as a vaccination centre until then.

Powys County Council said it will work alongside the people affected by this to work out how they can provide as much as possible of what the day centre provided them with.

Cllr Cox added: “Our staff work alongside people to understand what matters to them; and so we are talking to older residents and working in partnership with them and others to work out how, as well as re-opening Day Centres, we can help them connect with friends, do the things they enjoy and take part in other opportunities in their communities.”