Newport Council to consider post-Covid work model as £100k saved on mileage expenses

NEWPORT council will consider its work model in a post-Covid world, a council report says.

The report discusses the use of remote working throughout the coronavirus pandemic and the impact on the council’s carbon footprint. Both will likely impact any decisions made by the council on how it will operate in the future.

Newport, along with the rest of Wales, was in a full lockdown between March and May last year. However, the Welsh Government has never relented from the ‘work from home if you can’ message.

Even when the lockdown was eased in Wales, many council employees continued to work from home.

The Council’s overview scrutiny committee will consider the report and will have a chance to put forward views on how the council could operate in a post-Covid world.

The meeting takes place on Friday, February 19.

Between April and August 2020 and the same period in 2019, the council spent £100,000 less on business milage expenses, the report says.

£147,000 was claimed in milage expenses between April and August 2019 and £43,700 between the same period in 2020.

The report said council services had not been compromised throughout the pandemic and essential work had continued to take place.

It said: “A reduction in staff travelling to work and a reduction in business miles will reduce carbon emissions and air pollution created from council travel.”

Last year just 22 of the expenses-claimed journeys were more than 100 miles, compared with 256 in 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to three national lockdowns in Wales and the Welsh Government has had a stay-at-home message since March 2020.

The report says that the city council has reduced its carbon footprint and spent on average £5,000 a month less on electricity in the Civic Centre between April and August 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.