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GOVERNMENT SITS ON £14 MILLION OF PENSIONERS’ MONEY EACH DAY
UP to £14
million of pensioners’ money sits in the Exchequer each day instead
of helping the older people who need it, according to leading older
people’s charity Help the Aged.
The Charity is challenging the
Government to turn this around by ensuring older people get the
benefits they’re entitled to by paying them to people automatically. New research shows 79% of older people in the North West think the
Government should pay benefits to people without them having to
claim.
1 in 5 pensioners live in poverty and struggle with the rising cost
of living, yet up to £5 billion in benefits for older people (around
£14 million each day) goes unclaimed each year. In the current
economic climate, Help the Aged is demanding the Government throws
pensioners a lifeline by cutting out the convoluted claiming process
for benefits and introducing automatic payment of benefits.
Each year, up to £1.51 billion in Council Tax Benefit and £770
million in Housing Benefit goes unclaimed. Pensioners also miss out
on as much as £2.81 billion in Pension Credit.
Louise Ward-Bergeman, Policy Officer for Help the Aged, says:-
“The Government has most of the information it needs to identify
people who are entitled to benefits and arrange automatic payment;
what’s needed is the political will to make it happen. Difficult
economic times mean it is even more important for pensioners to get
every penny that is rightfully theirs. The Government has a
moral duty to ensure older people receive their benefits, but until
automatic payments are introduced, older people also need to take
action. We would urge all older people to find out if they are
entitled to benefits that could help.”
The number of pensioners not claiming individual benefits:-
* Pension credit:- Up to 1.82 million older people not claiming (41%
of those entitled)
* Housing benefit:- Up
to 350,000 older people not claiming (18% of those entitled)
* Council Tax
Benefit:- Up to 2.14 million older people not claiming (45% of those
entitled)
People can find out if they are eligible for benefits by:-
* Getting a copy of the Help the Aged benefits advice leaflet, Can
You Claim It? from
www.helptheaged.org.uk or 020
7239 1982;
* Calling SeniorLine,
the free Help the Aged advice line on 0808 800 6565
* Calling the Pension
Service advice hotline on 0800 991234 or visiting
www.pensionservice.gov.uk/pensioncredit
* Visiting your local
Age Concern, Citizens Advice Bureau or British Gas Help the Aged
Benefits Advice Programme
Email our news room with your views on
this subject to
news24@southportreporter.com and
let us know if you think the government should be doing more to help
people automatically and not relying on the public to the work or
are we to lazy? Let us know what you think today. |
Dawn Jones Photographic Exhibition
LOCAL Formby
photographer Dawn Jones is holding her very first exhibition at the
Gallery Bar and Grill on Halsall Lane, Formby over the next few
weeks. He work is all taken using natural light often
combining candid reportage photography with artistic approach to
produce stunning photographic prints. He work will be on
display until the end of February 2009.
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