Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made an assessment of the amount of benefits to which people are entitled that go unclaimed.

Lord Freud

On 28th June 2016 the Department for Work and Pensions published the report “Income-related benefits: Estimates of take-up in 2014/15”. The full report has been published online.

For Great Britain, the following estimates are available for 2014/15:

• Pension Credit: Up to £3.1 billion of available Pension Credit went unclaimed;
• Housing Benefit: Up to £4.6 billion of available Housing Benefit went unclaimed;
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income-based): Up to £2.4 billion of available Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income-based) went unclaimed.
• Income Support and Employment and Support Allowance (Income-related): Up to £2.9 billion of available Income Support and Employment and Support Allowance (Income-related) went unclaimed.