26 August 2004 - Link-age: delivering services to our older people
A quiet revolution in the way older people will access public services was unveiled today by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Local Government Association (LGA).
The strategy, published in a document called Link-Age, joins up services across and beyond government and will simplify how people are able to access the services and help they need.
Welcoming the new strategy, Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Pensions and Older People said:
"This is all about providing a 21st century service to our older people. We’re changing the way central and local government link up - people should no longer have to navigate their way around complex systems and give the same information over and over again. We need to restructure local welfare states around the needs of older people.”
Much of the activity outlined in the Link-Age document has been successfully piloted across the South West and in London:
- Joint Teams are up and running in various parts of the country. They mean that one person is able to deal with enquires and give assistance on a range of claims.
- We are giving local authorities and voluntary organisations like Age Concern the power to take claims for DWP benefits and verify documents on our behalf. This means that when an older person is applying for a benefit our partners will be able to establish the date of the claim and check over any supporting documents such as birth certificates.
- Health and social care matters are now being brought together in a single assessment process, meaning older people have a single point of access to the care system.
Malcolm Wicks continued:
"These are all steps towards providing a more customer focused approach to service delivery. The Pension Service is now up and running and has made over half a million visits to people in their homes. Together these things show how we are changing the way we work. This document today seeks to push this forward and through the regional consultation events we will be letting people have their say.”
Speaking today, Cllr Chris Clarke, Deputy Chair of LGA said:
"Helping older people to lead more independent and fulfilling lives means much more than ensuring they can access home care, health services or benefits when the need arises. Lifelong learning, community safety, transport links and access to information are just a few of the areas where local councils are bringing about major improvements.
"Councils are best placed to lead joint working and co-ordinated service provision in their local community. They also play a key role in enabling older people to get involved in designing services and encouraging them to become active citizens for their own benefit and that of the community as a whole.”
The approach has been developed in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Health. It is already beginning to make a difference – breaking down organisational barriers so customers have easy access in their local area to information about the range of services available.
Nick Raynsford, Minister for Local Government said:
"We need to ensure that older people can access services quickly and easily. I want Link-Age to contribute to our wider thinking about the future of local government and the role of councils in such essential functions".
Health Minister, Stephen Ladyman said:
"This is an important step towards providing seamless, easy access to local help and advice that will enable older people to live healthy, fulfilling, independent lives."
The Department for Work and Pensions has today also published some new research, 'Independent Living in Later Life’ which examines what older people think of independence and how this affects how they access services. The research shows that the Link-Age approach is the right one.
Notes for editors
- 'Link-Age: developing networks of services for older people', can be accessed at: www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2004/linkage/
- The DWP research 'Independent Living in Later Life’ by the Policy Studies Institute is available at: www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2003-2004/rrep216.asp
- Developing "third age services” was a 2001 manifesto commitment. The developments described in this document are the steps taken to meet that commitment. However, we are no longer using the title "third age” because we do not think it is sufficiently descriptive – "developing networks of services for older people” is likely to be better understood.
- The publication of the strategy today kicks off the consultation process which will include a series of regional forums, especially aimed at including older people themselves. These will finish on 26 November 2004.
- The Link-Age document is about joining up services. The results from the consultation will feed in to the broader strategy document which we intend to publish around the turn of the year.
- Key elements of progress so far include:
- The Pension Service: a new organisation dedicated to delivering high quality benefit services to pensioners. The Pension Service provides an integrated benefit service for pensioners, dealing with the range of entitlements they might have, provides a telephone service through which claim forms can be completed on the individual’s behalf, and a local service providing face-to-face contact where that is needed – since its inception, The Pension Service has already carried out over half a million visits to customers’ homes
- Joint Visiting Teams: teams made up of Pension Service local service staff and local authority financial assessment and benefits visiting staff who operate as a single team, undertaking single visits, taking claims across the range of benefits and, at the same time, undertaking financial assessments for services. Whilst initially, such teams began with Pension Service and Social Services financial services financial assessment staff, they increasingly include Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit visiting staff and some also include individuals from the voluntary sector
- Partnership Fund: a new Fund for not-for-profit organisations to run innovative take up pilots, focused on encouraging claims from harder to reach groups, based on partnership working
- working with the voluntary sector: enabling voluntary sector organisations to take claims to DWP benefits and verifying supporting evidence. Also, a new Fund (Futurebuilders) to build capacity in the voluntary sector
- the Single Assessment Process: for the first time, joining up the NHS with Social Service to deliver holistic health and social care assessments
- Supporting People: this initiative builds partnerships between Local Authorities, service users and support agencies to promote housing-related assistance, which complements care services, for over 1 million people who need that support to live independently
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