03 September 2004
Vulnerable older people will be able to access benefits and services through a single point of contact under a 'quiet revolution' unveiled by the government this week.
Local authorities will set up joint teams, comprising staff from the pensions service, benefits departments and voluntary organisations such as Age Concern.
These will undertake home visits and assess applicants' entitlement to a range of payments such as housing and council tax benefits. They will also be able to verify supporting documents so applicants will no longer have to send them through the post.
Assessments of individuals' care needs by health and social services professionals are being brought together, too, in a single process to provide one access point. Councils will also be encouraged to have a single telephone helpline number for residents to use, replacing long lists of contact numbers for individual services.
Unveiling the new strategy, called Link-Age, pensions and older people minister Malcolm Wicks said the aim was to simplify the many obstacles individuals face when applying for assistance.
Pensioners groups have long been calling for such action – the 'streamlined' council tax benefit form is 24 pages long.
Wicks told Public Finance that in the longer term he envisaged the joint teams expanding to include a wider range of service providers.
'It would seem an obvious development that primary care trusts should be involved and I'd like to see police authorities involved as well,' he said.
'People should no longer have to navigate their way around complex systems and give the same information over and over again.'
There are already 18 pilot joint visiting teams operating around the country, and the Department for Work and Pensions, which is leading the initiative, has agreements to set up teams with 136 councils.
Of these, the DWP expects around 100 to be up and running by the end of this financial year.
Chris Clarke, the Local Government Association's deputy chair, backed the strategy. 'Councils are best placed to lead joint working and co-ordinated service provision in their local community.'
The National Pensioners Convention general secretary, Joe Harris, said: 'The NPC welcomes any initiative by the government to encourage those entitled to benefits to claim them.'
The launch of the strategy marks the start of a consultation process that will feed into a broader strategy document due out at the end of this year.
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