The missing millions of potential claimants

Yadnad

I see that the DWP have released their most recent figures showing that there are still millions of people who are not claiming what they are entitled to:

According to the figures, millions of families could be missing out on benefits they're entitled to:

• Up to £3.5 billion of pension credit went unclaimed, meaning up to 1.3 million families are missing out on an average of £2,500 per year.
  
  
• Up to £4.2 billion of housing benefit went unclaimed, meaning up to 1.3 million families are missing out on an average of £3,000 per year.
  
  
• Up to £2.4 billion of income support and ESA went unclaimed, meaning up to 500,000 families are missing out on an average of £4,500 per year

That's a conservative £10.1 billion across 3.1 million people/families that are losing out.

There must be something that can be done to change this?

I remember years back that the government used to advertise on the TV, newspapers etc telling people over the age of 60 (at the time) that they should check to see if they are entitled to Pension Credit. In fact they went a step further and started making payments to the over 60's who they believed were entitled but hadn't made a claim. These payments went on for 6 months in the hope that after the 6 month period they would put a claim form in for the money to continue in payment. Very few bothered to make a claim!

The government then gave up and started to fund AgeUK to see if they could find the 'missing people'. Again it depended on the potential claimants coming into their offices in the first place - so that was wound up.

It seems a shame that some families/people who are in financial difficulties never look for help or ask if they are entitled.

susan48

Gone are the days that people entitled are advised of this, there’s hardly any help for people who don’t know what they are entitled too