Benefits
Last year, over £4 billion in benefits was left unclaimed by older people. Two million older people are living in poverty, yet many of them could claim financial assistance.
What we want
The whole benefits system must be urgently overhauled, so older people get the help they need.
- Better benefit take up – Only with strict national targets will government be forced to improve the benefits system.
- Easier to access - Millions of pounds worth of benefits available to the poorest older people are going unclaimed because schemes are sometimes poorly advertised or difficult for them to use.
- Muddled and confusing – There are 23 different benefits, each with different criteria. The whole system needs simplifying if older people are to benefit from it properly.
- End means testing – Many older people feel uneasy revealing details of their personal and financial affairs. The Government must find a fairer way to ensure all older people receive the money they are entitled to.
Better benefit take-up
Help the Aged is calling for tough national and local targets to be set to improve benefits take-up.
By 2008, the end of the current Treasury Spending Review, central and local government should achieve a 90 per cent take-up of all benefits that older people are entitled to.
Easier to access
Pensioners are living in poverty because they don’t even know they can get financial help. Other assume wrongly that they aren't eligible for help because they have small savings or own their own home.
Many haven’t been told they can get help to pay their rent, receive contributions towards care costs, or get a reduction on their Council Tax. Some don't know they can be assessed for benefits.
The benefits system needs an urgent root-and-branch overhaul. It should be more user friendly and structured around older people's needs, not just processing them.
For example, older should only have to give their personal details once rather than having to apply seperately for different types of benefits.
Older people want to talk to real people who are adequately trained and funded to help them access benefits, in a non-threatening and understanding way.
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Muddled system
The benefits system is way too complex. Many older people have to negotiate complex hurdles to get help that ought to be their right.
The Government’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has already criticised the fact that there are 23 benefits available to older people. They all have different criteria, some are dependent on each other and they have different application processes.
The system is so muddled and poorly advertised that even Pension Credit, a widely advertised benefit aimed at some of the poorest older people, is only claimed by just over half of those entitled to it. This benefit has changed its name three times in the last seven years!
An overhaul of the benefits system needs to massively simplify what benefits are available, and how they are delivered. Its time to stop older people having to jump through hoops. The system should work in their favour, not against them.
End means testing
In order to receive most benefits, older people have to go through an intrusive and sometimes embarrassing means test. Means testing is a complicated way of measuring what assets and income an older person has.
Some older people would rather go without benefits than endure intrusive questioning. The Government needs to find a way to ensure that those entitled to extra help actually receive it. The best way to do this would be to provide all older people with a decent and adequate state penion.
What you can do
Tell us your experiences – What effect has the complex benefits system had on you?
Get media savvy – Contact your local paper.
Visit your MP – Tell your MP, AM, MLA or MSP face-to-face about the difficulties older people face claiming benefits.
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Tell us your experiences
What happened to you when you dealt with the benefits system? Your experiences can help raise awareness about the complex benefits system, and to lobby for change.
Contact:
Campaigns Team
Help the Aged
207-221 Pentonville Road
London, N1 9UZ.
Tel. 020 7278 1114
Email us
Get media savvy
Write to your local paper telling them your experience of claiming benefits. Consider contacting the editor, or write to the letters page.
The Help the Aged Press Office may be able to supply their contact details. Call 020 7239 1942 or contact the Wales Press Office on 029 2034 6552.
Visit your MP, AM or MSP
Members of Parliament, Assembly Members and Members of the Scottish Parliament are obliged to hold local constituency ‘surgeries’ where they meet local people to discuss their problems. Use your right to speak directly to them to highlight the problems older people face accessing benefits.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I get information on which benefits I’m entitled to?
Find out what you're entitled to by visiting the benefits info section of this website, or download our handbook: Can You Claim It? from this page.
You can also get a free benefits health check by calling SeniorLine, our free welfare rights advice service on 0808 800 6565 (call 0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland, and 0800 26 96 26 for textphone users).
