A group is to be set up to look at the performance of Powys Council's housing maintenance company.

Heart of Wales Property Services – a joint venture between the council and construction group Kier – look after 5,400 homes and 630 properties in the county.

But the organisation has been identified as an area of risk for Powys Council, leading to some talk of the work being brought back in-house when a break in the contract arrives in July 2022.

Earlier this year a step in notice had to be issued with outside contractors being brought in to service tenant heating system.

It was also revealed that the firm is £392,000 in the red with PCC liable for half of all losses.

But at an audit committee meeting on Friday, councillors were told that more work will be done on HoWPS, particularly around performance and governance issues.

Ian Halstead, assistant director of South West Audit Partners, told the committee: “A report on HOWPS  specifically is going to an internal audit working group in the next couple of weeks.

“I don’t want to go into great detail before that group before that group has considered this report.”

Committee chairman Cllr John Morris, (Crcikhowell – Liberal Democrat) explained that the working group was looking finance and governance issues.

The report would then come to the audit committee.

“Over the next month or two we will get some clarity on that for everybody,” said Cllr Morris.

Councillors have been waiting since November 2019 for directors to appear before a scrutiny committee to discuss the company's second year report.

Several members of the PCC cabinet and senior staff are directors on the HoWPS board.