- develop services geared to users' needs, giving priority to
integrated approaches: to this end, they are invited to:
- ensure that official documents and administrative language are
simplified and the amount of paperwork required from users is reduced;
- divide responsibilities clearly among the various bodies and
services;
- improve the pooling of skills by reducing the compartmentalisation
of the various tiers of government and services;
- consider setting up "service platforms" or "one-stop shops";
- consider ensuring continued support of individual progress;
- promote the shared responsibility of services and users in order to
prevent abuse;
- undertake outreach work towards persons identified as not
exercising their rights;
- consider setting up mobile welfare offices;
- introduce an effective public information policy: to this end, they
are invited to:
- provide targeted, regularly updated information written in simple
and precise language;
- provide information in several languages as necessary;
- use as many channels of information as possible, including new
information technologies;
- adapt information to persons with special needs;
- monitor the quality and effectiveness of information, for instance,
by conducting periodic surveys of delivery effectiveness and user
satisfaction;
- ensure the quality of reception of users in social service offices: to
this end, they are invited to:
- ensure that staff, including volunteers, are adequately trained;
- facilitate access to premises (by removing physical barriers, for
instance) and ensure that premises are easily identifiable;
- arrange user-friendly opening hours;
- ensure that premises are welcoming;
- respect the privacy of users and the confidentiality of information
within the premises;
- ensure that policies on access to social rights are monitored and
evaluated: to this end, they are invited to:
- promote user involvement in social services;
- consider setting up national social rights observatories;
- evaluate the impact of existing and prospective policies and
measures on access to social rights;
- promote the exchange of information and experiences in the field
of access to social rights among the member states;
- establish and actively support appropriate partnership among all
those concerned (users, users' representatives, local authorities, social
partners, social protection institutions, NGOs and other actors of civil
society) with the development, implementation and evaluation of
measures taken to promote access to social rights