That’s about seven million households in England, Scotland and Wales who are being let down. They are missing out on about £24 billion worth of cash and support. This alarming statistic highlights a significant gap in the social security system, where many eligible families fail to claim benefits that could alleviate their financial burdens. Our analysis goes beyond cash assistance and examines all types of assistance. This includes universal credit, pension credit, local authority support like free school meals/council tax relief and social tariffs offered by water, energy and broadband companies.
Deven Ghelani, founder and chief executive of Policy in Practice, identified three primary barriers preventing households from accessing these benefits: awareness, complexity, and stigma. Combined, these elements create a systemic barrier that locks millions out from accessing a core component of household financial freedom.
Ghelani brought attention to the confusion or lack of awareness around the benefits that are out there. He stressed that the problem is many people don’t realize any of these resources are available to them. Even when they know, they still often think they don’t qualify.
“With awareness people just don’t know these benefits exist or, if they do know about them, they just immediately assume they won’t qualify,” – Deven Ghelani
To make things worse, the application process is unnecessarily complex. As Ghelani described, the process of filling out forms can feel overwhelming. Applicants would be required to produce significant proof and traverse various claims for various kinds of aid.
“Then you’ve got complexity, so being able to complete the form, being able to provide the evidence to be able to claim. Maybe you can do that once but actually you have to do it three, four, five, six, seven times depending on the support you’re potentially eligible for and people just run out of steam,” – Deven Ghelani
Stigma has a major impact by discouraging people from even applying for benefits. Ghelani said the issue comes from the idea that some think help isn’t meant for them. Even more so, though, they distrust the institutions doing this support.
“Then you’ve got stigma. People are made to feel it’s not for them or they don’t trust the organisation administering that support,” – Deven Ghelani
Andrea Paterson brought home the power of having access to these benefits with her personal testimony. Tina persuaded her mother, Sally, to make an application for attendance allowance for her father, Ian. Ian is entitled to the higher rate of attendance allowance which is £110 per week. This financial support has been a lifeline for their family.
Responding to the provision, Paterson noted its importance, particularly coming on the heels of the loss of the winter fuel payment.
“£110 per week is a lot of money and they weren’t getting the winter fuel payment anymore,” – Andrea Paterson
She recalled her mother’s immediate reaction upon learning about the allowance’s potential impact on their finances.
“So the first words that came out of Mum’s mouth were ‘well, that will make up for losing the winter fuel payment’, which was great,” – Andrea Paterson
We know that the typical household is under extreme pressure. Ghelani made clear the necessity of people getting educated on how to operate in the messy, confusing world of benefits. He quipped that basing policy on anticipated challenges isn’t a good enough excuse to not provide aid.
“The key thing is you can’t rely on the system being too complicated to save money,” – Deven Ghelani
Government figures reveal that spending on the social security system in England, Scotland, and Wales is projected to reach £316.1 billion by 2025-26. This spending equals 10.6% of the GDP and 23.5% of all government spending. Even with these enormous amounts, a lot of would-be benefactors don’t know about or can’t get what’s out there.
Local authorities are just starting to see the gains possible to this new, or a new, topic. Others have gone as high as 95% of eligible students for free school meals by using data more effectively. Way too much work continues to be needed though to make sure that millions of households are getting the financial help they should be getting.
