|
unclaimed |
claimants |
amount unclaimed |
% of amount that could have been claimed |
|
pension credit |
1.4 million |
£3.1 billion |
69% |
|
Housing Benefit |
1.4 million |
£4.6 billion |
86% |
|
JSA(income based) |
0.8 million |
£2.4 billion |
57% |
|
Income Support/ ESA(income related) |
0.6 million |
£2.9 billion |
84% |
Latest government take up surveys for means tested benefit in 2014-2015 suggest around £13 billion goes unclaimed in Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related), Pension Credit, Housing Bene t (including Local Housing Allowance), and Jobseeker's Allowance (income based). This figure would be bigger if we included Council Tax Support and UC.
This is an astonishingly high gure compared to the regularly cited gure of just over £1billion in Welfare Bene ts lost through fraud.
We've found that some reasons for not claiming are-
● dif culty in lling out form or meeting evidence requirements
poor accessibility due to lack of English or disability
stigma
the complexity of the system- not knowing what, how and when to claim
● ● ●
Book now for our updated Introduction to Welfare Benefits 2016 course.