listen carefully to what customers are asking for and to plot the flow of work from beginning to end, case by case. Although the actual numbers differed for each council, they found in each case that getting help was a more or less arduous obstacle course. In one authority, users had to go through an average of 81 steps to obtain domestic and 82 steps for residential care—dubbed by one staff member ‘the London Underground’ because clients were sent round and round. Of all actions taken, only 5% comprised value (i.e., were directly related to the purpose of obtaining care).