Over £10 billion of benefits left unclaimed - MSE News

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Former_MSE_Naomi
Former_MSE_Naomi Posts: 519 Forumite
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in Benefits & tax credits
Government figures released today show that up to an estimated £10.1 billion of pension credit, housing benefit and income support were left unclaimed in a single year...
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'Over £10 billion of benefits left unclaimed'
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  • ska_lover
    ska_lover Posts: 3,773 Forumite
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    Problem is, unless you are very up to date with the benefits system, they do not advise you.


    It is all left to websites such as turntoyou, etc


    If you ring up to put in an ESA claim for example, they will not advise you that you could also claim other things
    The opposite of what you know...is also true
  • whambam
    whambam Posts: 508 Forumite
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    The fact is the money advisers and people supposedly paid huge salaries dont have a clue what your entitled to. They use a benefit calculator which is wrong to get you out the door sooner.
  • micky2phones
    micky2phones Posts: 485 Forumite
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    Hi, i have said for years if all this was claimed the uk would be finished as they struggle to pay what they pay out now.
  • Woolco
    Woolco Posts: 172 Forumite
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    This is the bit I don't get. They want to reduce the benefits bill. But them come out with this crap.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    As benefit rules becomes more complicated and the staff over worked/ under paid, then the amount of unclaimed benefits has risen 7/8 years ago it was around £7 billion.
    The DWP simply does not have the time to seek out non claimants they struggle to deal with claimants.

    I hate to say this but we do not publicise entitlement as we should and many people simply won't claim because they don't want to/ can't be bothered/its too complicated.

    I will give you and example a friend sorted out her UC recently (it went surprisingly easy) then she turned to claiming council tax reduction took 2 evenings to apply using the councils online forms, turns out as they count child maintenance that she would get £1.50 a week, she didn't bother claiming.
  • antrobus
    antrobus Posts: 17,386 Forumite
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    venison wrote: »
    As benefit rules becomes more complicated and the staff over worked/ under paid, then the amount of unclaimed benefits has risen 7/8 years ago it was around £7 billion....

    Not really. The most recent take up report states that "up to" £10.1 billion was unclaimed in 2016/17. The oldest report I can find states that "there was between £7.52 billion and £12.31 billion left unclaimed in 2009-10".

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up

    So the upper limit has fallen by £2.3 billion over the past 7 years.

    venison wrote: »
    The DWP simply does not have the time to seek out non claimants they struggle to deal with claimants.

    I hate to say this but we do not publicise entitlement as we should and many people simply won't claim because they don't want to/ can't be bothered/its too complicated.

    I will give you and example a friend sorted out her UC recently (it went surprisingly easy) then she turned to claiming council tax reduction took 2 evenings to apply using the councils online forms, turns out as they count child maintenance that she would get £1.50 a week, she didn't bother claiming.

    Given that the initial analysis was wrong, your anecdotal explanations don't matter that much.:)
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    edited 16 November 2018 at 11:55PM
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    I think that it does tbh your figures state between £7.5 billion and £12.3 billion I was using the lower figure you chose the higher figure, we could argue all day as to who's right and who's wrong.

    I was trying to explain how these figures come about.
  • antrobus
    antrobus Posts: 17,386 Forumite
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    venison wrote: »
    I think that it does tbh your figures state between £7.5 billion and £12.3 billion I was using the lower figure you chose the higher figure, we could argue all day as to who's right and who's wrong....

    But you are comparing the lower figure of £7.5 billion for 2009-10 with the higher figure of £10.1 billion for 2016/17.

    Since the "government figures" for 2016/17 don't include a lower figure, you can only compare the two higher figures.

    Now do you understand where you went wrong?
    venison wrote: »
    ...
    I was trying to explain how these figures come about, you seemed more intent in having a pop at me. I'm used to that -)

    I am not having a 'pop' at you. I am simply pointing out that you were wrong.

    Feel free to speculate why, for example the take up of Pension Credit is only about two-thirds, but focus on what matters, which is the take up rate, not the £x headlines beloved by journalists.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    Feel free to point out anything, but we should not lose focus on the fact that the amount of unclaimed benefits is obscene and that more must be done to ensure that people do not lose out, sites like this do their best but people tend to come here for advice about benefits they are aware of (not exclusively).

    If the govt. is saving £x it should use just a little of that to publicise them more effectively.
  • another_casualty
    another_casualty Posts: 6,506 Forumite
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    edited 17 November 2018 at 8:20PM
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    On a slight tangent fwiw, I'll give you my situation:o
    Working constantly since 1979, until Nov 2016 ,with approx 6 months out of employment in total . Mostly permanent , and some temp contracts leading to perm employment .
    Back in 2014, what was misdiagnosed from Bell's palsy materialised into myasthenia gravis . I took approx 6 weeks off through recuperation between 2015/2016 and got paid whils off eventually going on s s p .

    I quit my job, Nov 2016 and relocated . As I had equity from the sale of my old flat , I decided to not go to any job centre and use my funds to survive . Now, I have free prescriptions ( found out third hand :mad:) . I didn't claim anything . I was not fit to work, was in a sorry state and knew the only way to recover is with plenty of rest .
    I quit the job and relocated because it was wrong on so many levels , and because of debt etc .

    As has been pointed out , for people who have always worked haven't a clue what to claim etc. Plus in my case I expected to be treated like crap and justify everything through means testing and ticking boxes.:mad:
    More fool me ,but I'm not the only one who feels like this ...
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