A senior Powys councillor has asked education chiefs whether the mental health crisis amongst children and young people is a permanent or temporary issue as members heard it was “the new norm”.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Cabinet on 26 November councillors agreed a five year strategic plan for Additional Learning Needs (ALN) and Inclusion.

The new plan aims to address the “significant challenges” in the provision of support for children with special educational needs which has emerged in recent years.

Cabinet member for a connected Powys, Cllr Jake Berriman said: “Post Covid-19 we seem to be seeing a societal change in younger people do we have an academic view or from experience of whether this is a shift that will be temporary or do we think this is a permanent change.”

“Will we come out the other side of in x number of years, is there any indications of that.”

He pointed out that this change will have huge cost implications for the council’s social services and education departmental budgets.

Director of education Richard Jones said: “It’s my view that we won’t return to the education system we had before the pandemic.”

Dr Jones believed the schools had been under “significant challenge” even before Covid-19 and that problems needed addressing back then.

Dr Jones said: “A new type of need has emerged since the pandemic.

“It’s not just the level it’s the complication.

“We need to work with what we’ve got in this context and improve from this position.

“You look across Wales and the four nations you see that demand is increasing in schools – this is very much an area of focus for education.”

ALN and inclusion service manager, Simon Anderson added: “This is the new norm, and we have to adapt to it.”