A recent analysis reveals that approximately seven million households across England, Scotland, and Wales are missing out on an estimated £24 billion in financial help. Rubin points out that this big dollar amount covers many smaller benefits. These entitlements include universal credit, pension credit, local authority support, free school meals and council tax support. Included in the benefit take-up are social tariffs from water, energy and broadband companies – forms of financial support that are still widely left unclaimed.
The detailed analysis indicates that the barriers to claiming these benefits can be broadly categorized into three main areas: awareness, complexity, and stigma. Deven Ghelani, who specializes in this niche field, points out that for most of these potential claimants, they just have no idea that these benefits are an option. For every person that knows about it, the confusing nature of the application process makes them not want to go after their entitlement.
Ghelani explains, “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.” He provides a good discussion on the complexity built into the claims process. Just knowing how to fill out such a form and present the required proof can be overwhelming – even scary. The average American likes to think they can eat this up once. Yet, when they realize they have to go through the same process for all different types of assistance, they become discouraged.
The fiscal impact of these untapped perks is huge. That’s £316.1 billion that the government says it will spend on the whole social security system in 2025-26. This level will represent over 10.6% of the GDP and 23.5% of total government spending. Even with this significant investment, millions of Americans are missing out on the benefits that transit creates because they face barriers to access.
Andrea Paterson’s story is a perfect illustration of the life-changing way financial support makes a difference. Now, Beth managed to do one very positive thing – she successfully managed to convince her mother, Sally, to apply for attendance allowance for her father, Ian. Ian qualified for the higher rate of attendance allowance at £110 per week. After this increase, their financial situation drastically changed.
Paterson remarked, “£110 per week is a lot of money and they weren’t getting the winter fuel payment anymore.” She pointed out that the allowance has begun to replace some of the financial support that people have lost as previous government payments ended. “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.”
She supplemented that the allowance has helped to ease many of the fiscal concerns endured by seniors. “All pensioners worry about money. Everyone in that generation worries about money. I think it eased that worry a little bit and it did allow them to keep the house warmer,” Paterson stated.
Local authorities have worked wonders in ensuring that free school meals reach eligible students. They were able to do this through internal process changes to better manage their data. Word on the street is that some local governments are reaching 95% coverage of eligible kids.
The analysis raises the alarm on how pension credit has become critical for the survival of so many seniors. Here’s how Robin from Greater Manchester recently described the impact of this benefit on his finances. Thousands of families and individuals are still facing difficulties due to the confusing process of applying for these benefits. They encounter many other barriers that complicate the process further.
