ASMA* contacted the Access Point in August on behalf of a neighbour who had moved to the area and had approached her for help.

Her neighbour, Mrs Akhtar*, was in her late 70s and did not speak any English. She did not understand how to get support and had never managed her own affairs before; she was frightened and lonely.

Asma did not know her new neighbour, but felt obliged to try to help her get the support she needed. She called the Access Point, expecting this to trigger an assessment and some intervention from social services.

She said: “Although I told them I was not a family member and did not know Mrs Akhtar well, they seemed to expect me to tell them what sort of support she needed. I didn’t feel confident to make that assessment.

“The Access Point gave me information about applying for a Discretionary Support Payment, this is something that can only be done online and they expected that I would help the neighbour with this.

“They asked me if I thought she needed home care or day centres as these were the only services they offered. Again I told them I didn’t feel able to make that judgement, having only just met Mrs Akhtar.

“I thought that the council would have provided more of an assessment and , that they would have taken some responsibility for helping Mrs Akhtar , who was clearly quite vulnerable, rather than just pushing everything back to me.”

Asma helped Mrs Akhtar to apply for Discretionary Support Payments, but after a few weeks Mrs Akhtar was told she had been unsuccessful. *Names have been changed.