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A quarter of seniors in difficulty with administrative procedures

The closure of local public services (post office, tax center, train station, etc.), in particular in rural areas, weakens the situation of elderly people who are uncomfortable with digital technology or who are not connected.

One in four elderly people is thus confronted with difficulties in the administrative procedures and one in seven gives up in front of the complexity observes the Defender of rights, Claire Hédon, in the study. “Difficulties of access to rights and discrimination linked to advanced age”, published this Friday 1is October 2021.

Around 30% of those 65 and over surveyed do not have access Internet at home, a proportion that rises to 53% of those aged 85 and over.

A feeling of exclusion

The dematerialization of public services has a significant impact on this category of the population, which remains very attached to local services. Particularly concerned are dependent people, with low incomes, having difficulty understanding French or rarely using the Internet.

“The omnipresence of digital technology increases the difficulties of the elderly” who feel a “Feeling of exclusion”. Caregiver support becomes « indispensable », notes the Defender of Rights in this study, published on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons. Gold, “A quarter of the elderly people questioned have no help available from those around them in the event of difficulty in their administrative procedures”, she indicates.

Faced with difficulties, these people will give up obtaining aid (right to retirement, allowances, etc.). People in a situation of severe dependence are seven times more likely to give up their approach than independent people. Those in financial difficulty, twice as many as those who are financially comfortable.

Read also: “Dematerialization has dramatic consequences”

Discrimination and dehumanization of relationships

Around 17% of people aged 65 and over surveyed say “Have suffered at least once discrimination related to their age, in the past five years” : in public transport (42%), in relations with a public service or an administration (39%).

They also evoke the dehumanization of relations with public services and the loss of social ties. They suffer from “Not to have an interlocutor in front of them who helps them, reassures them or validates what they are doing”. They are afraid of doing something stupid.

A situation worsened by the health crisis

One in four elderly people had the impression that their situation, during the Covid-19 health crisis, was not taken into account, especially in the field of care and services: health services, overwhelmed by management of Covid cases, have unscheduled medical appointments and home visits.

“My neighbor had a housekeeper. But at the first confinement, the provider deleted it on the pretext that it was autonomous. Suddenly, overnight, she found herself with nothing at all ”, indicates a respondent in the study.

The study was carried out in the fall of 2020 with a representative sample of 2,506 elderly people living at home and a panel of 15 caregivers.

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