The DWP currently produces yearly statistics on the take up of Welfare Benefits. These are invaluable to help illustrate the scale of the problem of people not claiming their legal entitlement. It focuses on the amount unclaimed and then we can question why and how we can tackle this.
We agree with the views of the Work and Pensions Committee who say-
‘ We are concerned that, without the continued publication of this set of statistics, it will be very difficult to assess whether the introduction of Universal Credit will have the effect of increasing the take-up of income-related benefits, which is one of its stated aims.
The DWP are currently asking your views on whether they should stop the surveys, keep them as they are or give a less robust set of figures perhaps based on less benefits.
Latest take up surveys for means tested benefit in 2009-10 suggest around £16 billion goes unclaimed in Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related), Pension Credit, Housing Benefit (including Local Housing Allowance), Council Tax Benefit; and Jobseeker's Allowance (income based). This is an astonishingly high figure compared to the regularly cited figure of just over £1billion in Welfare Benefits lost through fraud.
Send you response by email. Consultation runs from 12/7/2012 until 4/10/2012.
Click here for our Welfare Reform Briefing1 on Universal Credit.