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When pensions minister Malcolm Wicks asked older people in a small town in the South West how they knew what their benefit and service entitlements were they kept replying "because of Deb".

Initially confused as to what this apparent acronym stood for, Wicks soon realised Deb was a real person who worked in the RNIB shop and signposted older people to statutory services in the community.

The message was simple: older people, faced with a complex and bureaucratic pensions and benefits system look to individuals in the community to help them navigate it.


So Deb has become the inspiration for a blueprint launched by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) last week to join up pensions and social care services so they can better assess and meet the needs of older people. Named Link-Age - pun totally intended - it is hoped it will become the gateway to social care and benefits for many older people.

Under Link-Age, joint teams of pension service staff, social workers, benefits and financial assessments staff will identify needs and eligibility in a single visit to a person's home. The teams may also include housing and council tax benefit staff and someone from a voluntary sector organisation.

This will do away with the numerous visits separate services often undertake and speed up the process. One professional will take the lead role and help clients fill in forms.

The concept is already used by 18 councils in south west England, but 136 - including some in Wales and Scotland - have agreed to implement joint visiting teams. Three quarters of them will be fully operational by April 2005.

"If I go somewhere in two years' time and there isn't a joint visiting team I'd be disappointed," says Wicks. Even so, the plans are out for consultation until late November and Wicks describes the blueprint as a "direction of travel" rather than a compulsory route.

"I expect to see a great deal of variation depending on the needs of local people," he says.

Care Direct pilots are likely to form part of this variation. The free telephone service launched to great fanfare three years ago offers advice on social care, health, housing and benefits for older people.

But ministers decided not to roll out Care Direct across the country, instead intending to feed lessons learned by the pilot projects into a new "Third Age" service. This, in turn, has been replaced by Link-Age "because we felt [the name] was a bit woolly", Wicks adds.


The minister says the six Care Direct projects in the South West will continue and could incorporate elements of Link-Age into them.

However, Paul Searle, project leader of Care Direct in Devon, says guidance to Link-Age looks similar to that provided for Care Direct. "It would appear the government is recommitting to objectives and aims successfully piloted by authorities that developed Care Direct in 2001."

He adds that he has had talks with the DWP about future resourcing of the Care Direct service, but has received nothing from government about Link-Age since last year.

Somerset is one of the pilot areas for Link-Age, but Care Direct operators there seem unaware even of its existence.

Perhaps the lack of awareness is down to branding. Whereas Care Direct had a distinct and strong image, a DWP spokesperson emphasises Link-Age is "an approach in how things should work rather than a brand".

Ultimately what Link-Age will be judged on is whether it improves the experience clients have of statutory agencies and whether it speeds the delivery of benefits and services.

Dan Vale, head of social care policy at Citizens Advice, welcomes anything that would make services less complex but insists its success will depend on involving non-governmental organisations.

"It's a bit early to say whether it's going to have significant meaning for older people nationally," he says.

- Consultation from www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2004/linkage/