EAGLE-EYED social media users may have spotted some unexpected posts from the council’s channels in the last few weeks.

But for those not up to date with Bracknell Forest Council (BFC)’s social stream, it may come as a surprise that the council has been calling for Welsh speakers to apply for a job with the authority in the borough.

This is because in 2018 Flintshire County Council in north Wales paid BFC £80,000 to create a job for a welsh-speaking emergency response officer (ERO) to take calls from distressed residents.

Consequently, this means the ERO could be taking calls from elderly or vulnerable Welsh adults despite being based in Berkshire, almost 200 miles away from Flintshire.

The ERO will be working for the council’s ‘Forestcare’ service, which is an out of hours provision that supports distressed residents across the country.

Law requires the council to meet Welsh speaking standards but prior to the job application being listed, the authority had been using a translation service to deal with calls from Welsh speakers.

The postings were spotted by national satirical magazine Private Eye in summer 2018.

A column in the bi-monthly publication read: “In the wonderful world of outsourcing, BFC has won a contract to monitor out of hours the lifeline alarms of elderly and vulnerable residents for 25 local authorities and housing associations, one of which is Flintshire County Council in North Wales.

“The Flintshire job alone is worth £80,000 to BFC. So when Doris in Mold takes a fall and presses her buzzer, someone in faraway Bracknell will contact her neighbour, next of kin or emergency services.”