Mr. Ger Deering:

I want to make a general point about which public bodies need to think. If public bodies find that people are making a lot of mistakes in an application process, the body needs to look at the application process. That applies more generally than this particular question. If a lot of people are making the same mistakes, maybe the question is not as clear as it could be. Maybe the process should be a little easier. It is really important when people design services that they design them from the very start.

The start is usually the information that is provided to the person about the service, and the application form is the next step. There is a tendency to design things from the inside out. They are designed from the organisation's administrative point of view but there is a need to start out by considering what is the first thing a customer - a member of the public who wants to use the service - needs to know. The first thing they need to know is whether they are eligible, so organisations should be setting out the eligibility criteria in the simplest form possible. When it comes to application forms, there is a need to reflect on what information is needed in order to assess the application and to ask only for that information.