£5.4bn of benefits fails to reach older people

Commenting on the new DWP figures showing up to £5.4bn worth of means-tested benefits has gone unclaimed by older people in 2007-8, Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director for Age Concern and Help the Aged, said: "These figures show just how badly the means-tested benefits system, which was supposed to lift older people out of poverty, is bogged down. The increase of 1 percentage point in the number of Pension Credit claimants still means one in three pensioners are missing out on this benefit. Even in the grip of a recession, eligible pensioners are still not claiming an average of £31 a week of Pension Credit alone.

"Despite the Government campaign to encourage older people to claim, benefit take-up levels have remained stubbornly static in the past year. If the unclaimed £5.4bn were put directly into the pockets of the people who need it, we would pull about half a million pensioners out of poverty at a stroke.

"The Government needs to work at full speed towards more automatic payments of benefits. Meanwhile simple administrative changes could be made, such as the introduction of a single claim line for Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit."