As the move away from universal benefits towards a much more targeted approach to individual need begins to pick up pace, the Department of Social Care takes another step forward in line with this thinking in its refurbishment of the ground floor of the Markwell House Headquarters.
The confusing array of service counters spread across numerous floors where the general public have traditionally had to try and work out how they ‘fitted in’ to the system has given way to a new, brighter, one stop shop for all on the ground floor.
It no longer matters whether you are enquiring about benefits, pensions, housing or social care matters, simply call in at the ground floor and counter staff will do their best to meet your needs.
These improvements have freed up space on the floors above and will allow the Department to move staff from 3 and 4 Hill Street in January which, in turn, has been put up for sale.
The Minister for Social Care, Hon Chris Robertshaw MHK, said:
'Our credo is no longer the administration of categorised entitlement, but rather the desire to reach out to and understand real need. This fundamentally new approach to service delivery is epitomised by the changes at Markwell House and is another step down a long road of change'.
