Elderly face 'bureaucratic maze' of 700 questions on application form for home help

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The elderly are being forced to negotiate a ‘bureaucratic maze’ before they can get the home help they need, a report has claimed.

It said pensioners have to answer 700 questions across several complicated forms about the type of care they are entitled to.

One form for those on the lowest incomes is 35 pages long, and requires anyone claiming pension credit to fill in 12 separate sections, the Local Government Association said.

The report also warned that too many departments were in charge of different types of care and called for the job to be handed to a single set of bureaucrats.

The LGA, which represents local councils, pointed out that while GPs are told to refer anyone with mobility problems to one department to get a wheelchair, they are advised to go to a different ministry to apply for a walking stick.

At present, services are provided by agencies including the Department for Work and Pensions, Disability Benefits Centres, Job Centres, GPs, NHS hospitals and councils.

LGA spokesman David Rogers said: ‘It is utterly ridiculous so many administrative obstacles are put in the way of people who need help and support.’