It has emerged that calls to a Powys-wide domestic abuse helpline have fallen since the Covid-19 lockdown.
It comes after the Montgomeryshire Family Crisis Centre urged people to report any concerns they have about friends, neighbours or family last month.
Powys County Council's Health and Care scrutiny committee meeting has been told that a campaign had been run on social media showing the help available for people suffering domestic violence.
The discussion was sparked by a question from Councillor Susan McNicholas: "Has there been an increase in domestic abuse in Powys since Covid-19?”
Director of Social Services, Ali Bulman, said: “We were very concerned about the drop in numbers of enquiries we're getting around domestic violence.”
Ms Bulman explained that they do expect to receive a similar level of referrals on domestic violence all the time.
She added: “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 said 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.”
This was in part due to the campaign that encouraged residents to report any concerns they had about children, young
people and adults in their communities as well as highlight domestic abuse
services.
Flyers have been distributed to households by Powys Association of
Voluntary Organisations alongside a social media campaign.
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.
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service