Benefit ignorance

Talking to pensioner Les Fox for an article this week, he revealed that it was only after he had a coughing fit – due to his emphysema - during a meeting with Age Concern that he found out he was eligible for disability benefits.

Following this, Les was given forms and advice by Age Concern and now claims various benefits, including Attendance Allowance and Savings Credits. In all, he reckons he and his wife are about £120 a week better off – a massive difference given that the basic state pension is only £87.30 a week.

If he hadn’t had the luck to have that coughing fit, it is probable that he and his wife would still be struggling to pay his bills on their meagre state pension; he knew nothing of what he was entitled to or how to claim it before Age Concern stepped in.

Various statistics are bandied around as to how much unclaimed benefits are out there – Help the Aged recently said it was £4.5 billion – but the government seems to be doing little to help older people claim what is theirs. While there is help available through local councils etc, it is only useful if people know about them – and often they do not.

Some well-placed advertising – TV especially – to publicise how older people could be eligible for benefits and who to contact could help to address this, but whether the government will is another matter. A national campaign would cost millions and with the economy facing uncertain times ahead, it is this sort of spending that is generally axed first.